U.S. Steel Corporation

Granite City Works will need to hire roughly 400 employees to operate the blast furnace, according to U.S. Steel. When fully staffed, the mill will employ 1,200 to 1,300 people.

Thursday’s decision by U.S. Steel will provide a short-term win for the steelworkers, who have long been critical of the company’s decision not to produce steel in Granite City.

After newly acquired U.S. Steel scrapped its decision to wind down processing at the Metro East mill later this fall, steelworkers rallied this weekend in hopes of keeping the plant open beyond 2027.

The company announced earlier this month it would stop work at the Metro East plant this fall but now has changed course.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that the Trump administration exercised its veto power over plant decisions.

Confirming the company will cut processing later this fall in Granite City, U.S. Steel said it will move those responsibilities to bigger mills.

There will be no layoffs after October because of the decision, according to the memo.

With little being said of Granite City Works’ future, some are starting to ask: Have President Donald Trump and the companies kept their promises to those in the Metro East, or have they forgotten or abandoned them?

U.S. Steel and its would-be Japanese suitor filed twin lawsuits Monday to defend their $15 billion merger. President Biden issued an order on Friday to block the deal, citing national security concerns.

A separate deal to sell both blast furnaces in the Metro East town has been on the back burner, which union officials believe will cost hundreds of jobs. If the U.S. Steel sale is dead, some worry what’s in store for Granite City.