President Trump on Tuesday again claimed that all pipelines will now be built with U.S. steel — even though the Keystone XL project, perhaps the highest profile pipeline in American history, will rely heavily on foreign materials.
Mr. Trump made the comments during brief remarks at Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington. He referenced an executive order signed earlier this year requiring that any new pipeline project use U.S. steel.
“Who makes these beautiful pipes?” Mr. Trump said, recalling a past conversation. “They said, ’They’re made outside this country.’ I said no more … If you want to build pipelines in this country you’re going to buy your steel here and you’re going to have it fabricated here.”
But the administration already has established a massive loophole in that directive. Keystone XL, a Canada-to-Texas pipeline blocked by the Obama administration and green-lighted by Mr. Trump last week, will not use all American steel.
TransCanada, the company that will build the pipeline, has said that U.S. materials will be used for roughly half of the American portion of the project.
The rest will be made in Canada, Italy and India.
The White House has defended the exemption by claiming that Keystone does not qualify as a “new” pipeline since it was proposed years ago and stopped by the Obama administration.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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