Keystone XL Pipeline will not be forced to use American steel

The Keystone XL Pipeline seems to have been spared from president Donald Trump's aggressive economic nationalism, Salon reported. On Thursday, a White House spokeswoman said that one of the nation's largest projects, the Keystone XL Pipeline, would not be subject to the presidential memorandum that requires infrastructure to be built with US steel.

The memorandum was explicitly applicable to ''the construction of American Pipelines.''

''The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation will all relevant executive departments and agencies, shall develop a plan under which all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines, inside the borders of the United States, including portions of pipelines, use materials and equipment produced in the United States,'' the presidential memorandum read.

The Keystone XL Pipeline apparently is not covered under the definition.

''The Keystone XL Pipeline is currently in the process of being constructed, so it does not count as a new, retrofitted, repaired or expanded pipeline,'' a White House spokeswoman told Politico.

That statement seemed run counter to what Trump told US Steel CEO Mario Longhi at a meeting late February, when he said that the US will ''put you heavy into the pipeline business because we approved, as you know, the Keystone Pipeline.''

According to commentators, Trump implied that TransCanada, the developer of the pipeline, would have to buy steel made in America.