President Donald Trump announced an $18 billion investment centered on a new Minnesota iron mine and a fully integrated steel plant in Iowa, a project Susan Kokinda says demonstrates how tariffs and domestic production can strengthen American economic sovereignty.

Kokinda framed the announcement as evidence of an economy moving into what Treasury Secretary Bessent recently described as an acceleration phase.

"Last week, Treasury Secretary Besant said the U.S. economy is in the acceleration phase, and on Monday, President Trump showed us what that means," Kokinda said.

She said Trump used an Oval Office event to announce the investment, which combines a newly opened iron mine in Minnesota with construction of a major steel facility in Iowa.

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"On Monday, President Trump held an Oval Office event to announce a historic investment," Kokinda said.

According to Kokinda, the combined investment will total $18 billion.

"The total for this new project, which includes a newly opened Minnesota iron mine and the construction of a fully integrated steel plant in Iowa, will be 18 billion dollars," Kokinda said.

She described both parts of the project as historic developments for American heavy industry.

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"The mine is the first iron ore mine opened in 50 years, and it will provide pellets for the first new integrated steel plant started in 60 years," Kokinda said.

The project is also expected to generate thousands of jobs during construction and once the steel plant is operating.

"The steel plant will employ 6,000 construction workers and almost 2000 permanent workers when completed," Kokinda said.

Kokinda then turned to remarks from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who directly credited Section 232 steel tariffs with creating the economic conditions necessary for both projects.

"So these are your 232 tariffs, the steel tariffs at work," Lutnick said.

He argued that without those tariffs, neither the mine nor the steel plant would have moved forward.

"Without those tariffs, this mine doesn't get built, and this steel plant does not get built," Lutnick said.

Lutnick said the Minnesota project represents a $2.5 billion iron ore mine focused on producing pellets used in steelmaking.

"Two and a half billion dollar iron ore mine that does iron ore pellets, right?" Lutnick said.

He then pointed to the country’s current reliance on imported pellets.

"Now, where do we get those pellets from now? We get them primarily from Brazil," Lutnick said.

Lutnick argued that dependence leaves American steel production reliant on a foreign supplier for a critical input.

"So we are beholden to Brazil to build our steel in America because the input is coming from outside the country," Lutnick said.

The new Minnesota mine, he said, changes that by opening up domestic resources.

"so now we are unleashing the iron range in Minnesota, which is the greatest, as the chairman said, the greatest set of iron in the world is right here in America," Lutnick said.

Kokinda called Lutnick’s explanation one of the clearest examples of how tariffs can be used to encourage domestic production rather than dependence on foreign sources.

"That is one of the clearest examples you can get of the how and the why of tariffs," Kokinda said.

She argued that the policy creates the conditions for American producers to make use of domestic resources instead of depending on other countries for materials as fundamental as iron ore pellets.

"Rather than being dependent on something as fundamental as iron ore pellets to another country like Brazil, which isn't exactly friendly to us right now, tariffs created the conditions where we can now use the greatest deposit on Earth right here," Kokinda said.

Kokinda said the project represents a broader economic model built around protecting domestic producers, providing stable financing and rebuilding key supply chains.

"Now put all that together, and you just got a crash course in the American system of economics," Kokinda said.

She outlined that system as a combination of tariffs and government credit designed to encourage domestic investment.

"Tariffs to protect our producers from cheap foreign competition, government credit to ensure reasonable and stable financing, and the completion of a vital supply chain to undergird our economic sovereignty," Kokinda said.

The result, she said, will be thousands of jobs across Minnesota and Iowa while reducing dependence on foreign suppliers.

"And the result is 1000s of good-paying jobs in two states," Kokinda said.

Kokinda argued that the impact extends beyond employment numbers and industrial capacity.

"But it does more than that. It awakens a spirit in the American people, which is just as important as the jobs themselves."

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