White House: Keystone XL Doesn't Have to Use American Steel

'The steel is already literally sitting there'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2017 10:11 AM CST
White House: 'Buy American' Doesn't Cover Pipeline Steel
Keystone steel pipe stored in Little Rock, Ark.   (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

President Trump's "Buy American" order calling for American steel to be used in American pipeline projects doesn't cover the Canadian, Italian, and Indian steel being used in the Keystone XL Pipeline project. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Friday that Trump's order applies to "new, retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines," but Keystone is "currently in the process of being constructed, so it does not count as a new, retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipeline," Politico reports. She added that since "the steel is already literally sitting there, it would be hard to go back."

Trump revived the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects with days of taking office, and the AP notes that as recently as last week, he said American steel must be used "or we're not building one." Bloomberg reports that the president repeated the pledge to build Keystone XL with American steel at several rallies last month, boasting that he had demanded the clause before signing the order. Around half the 821,000 tons of steel needed for the project is expected to come from outside the US. Justin Trudeau's office praised the allowance of non-American steel in a statement Friday, calling it a "recognition that the integrated Canadian and US steel industries are mutually beneficial," the CBC reports. (More TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline stories.)

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