Trinidad steel mill reopens with US eye on China

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau attended the recommissioning ceremony of a steel mill in Trinidad and Tobago on Monday as Washington seeks to limit reliance on China for vanadium.

The former ArcelorMittal plant was liquidated in 2016 and has since been acquired by Pinnacle Steel & Vanadium Corporation, an American firm that hopes to turn the mill into a vanadium production hub.

China currently dominates production of vanadium, a steel-strengthening element used in some military components and magnets.

Landau said the United States had lost out to China after companies relocated there. “We're dependent on a foreign country that may not have our best interests at heart, and so it is a strategic imperative for us as the United States to revitalize these kinds of projects,” he said.

He also criticized layers of environmental regulation, saying they “create a nightmare for people who are trying to run a business.”

Works and Infrastructure Minister Jearlean John said the plant's reopening will create 644 jobs on the island.

Trinidad and Tobago lies about 10 kilometers off the Venezuelan coast.