President Donald Trump is importing steel to build the ballroom that a federal judge already told him is not allowed to proceed with construction — and, simultaneously, breaking a key America First promise.
“President Trump has championed the U.S. steel industry, promising to strengthen it and to impose stiff tariffs on foreign metals to shield manufacturers from overseas competitors,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday. “Yet the White House has secured tens of millions of dollars worth of donated foreign steel for Mr. Trump’s $400 million ballroom project, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive and private conversations.”
Specifically the White House tapped a Luxembourg-based steel maker known as ArcelorMittal to build the ballroom. While Trump has bragged that he would not charge taxpayers to build his ballroom, “the use of foreign steel for a ballroom built at the most recognizable building in the United States may anger domestic companies and unions that are trying to promote the U.S. industry,” the Times reported.
The Times also noted that Trump’s tariffs, despite ostensibly existing to help domestic industry, have actually benefited foreign industries like ArcelorMittal.
“Tariffs have made exporting steel into U.S. markets more expensive,” the Times wrote. “But they have also raised global steel prices as a result, benefiting Mr. Mittal’s business. Mr. Mittal commended Mr. Trump’s efforts to place trade restrictions on Chinese steel exports. And in response to U.S. tariffs, Mr. Mittal urged the European Union to step up its trade protections of European steel.”
In addition to upsetting domestic steel manufacturers. Trump is also upsetting Americans who care about preserving historic landmarks. These include Reason Magazine senior editor Jacob Sullum.
“That decision, which the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to pause in an emergency motion filed late on Friday, reflects Trump's tendency to do whatever he wants, regardless of what the law says,” Sullum wrote about a recent key court ruling that overturned Trump’s decision to bulldoze the East Wing and build a ballroom. Sullum then reviewed in detail the 35-page opinion issued by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in his preliminary injunction.
Leon wrote that, notwithstanding Trump’s "claims that Congress has given him authority in existing statutes to construct his East Wing ballroom project and to do it with private funds," ultimately when it came to the lawsuit against the ballroom’s construction "the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have." Leon concluded that "the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion."
Journalist and lawyer Julie DeCaro offered a mixed assessment about Leon’s decision at the time, saying that though legally correct it came far too late to save the White House East Wing.
"It would have been great to get this opinion before he demolished the East Wing, but no one moved fast enough,” DeCaro wrote on Bluesky. “It's a metaphor for his entire administration."
