FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2015 file photo, TransCanada's Keystone pipeline facilities are seen in Hardisty, Alberta. The Keystone XL oil pipeline won't use American steel in its construction, despite what... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2015 file photo, TransCanada's Keystone pipeline facilities are seen in Hardisty, Alberta. The Keystone XL oil pipeline won't use American steel in its construction, despite what President Donald Trump says. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that's due... (Associated Press) 
 
 PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Keystone XL oil pipeline won't use American steel in its construction, despite what President Donald Trump says. 
 
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that's due to language in a presidential directive Trump issued in January. The directive applies to new pipelines or those under repair. Sanders said it would be hard to do an about-face on Keystone because it's already under construction and the steel has been acquired. 
 
 Trump said as recently as last week that Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline must use American steel "or we're not building one." 
 
 Trump used his executive powers shortly after taking office to greenlight the two pipeline projects that had been blocked by President Barack Obama. 
 
 The Keystone pipeline would run from Canada to refineries in the Gulf Coast. The Dakota Access line would move North Dakota oil to Illinois, and that project is nearly complete. 

 The Keystone XL oil pipeline does not need to be made from U.S. steel, despite an executive order by President Donald Trump days after he took office requiring domestic steel in new pipelines, the White House said on Friday. 
 
 "It's specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One, when asked about a report by Politico that Keystone would not need to use U.S. steel, despite Trump's executive order issued on Jan. 24. 
 
 "Since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it's hard to go back. Everything moving forward would fall under that executive order," Sanders said. The southern leg of the Keystone project is completed and started pumping oil in 2013. 
 
 Some pipe segments that could be used for Keystone XL, which would bring 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to Nebraska, have already been built. Former Democratic president Barack Obama rejected TransCanada Corp.'s multi-billion dollar Keystone XL pipeline, saying it would not benefit U.S. drivers and would contribute emissions linked to global warming. 
 
 Then Trump's order expedited the path forward for TransCanada to reapply to build the line. 
 
 In a statement, TransCanada struck a cautiously optimistic tone. "We continue to be encouraged as our Presidential Permit application makes its way through the approval process," the company said. "This project will support U.S. energy security, create thousands of well-paying U.S. jobs and provide substantial economic benefits." 
 
 Economists told Reuters days after Trump issued the order on U.S. steel requirements that it had many loopholes, would not be easily enforceable, and could violate international trade law. Even if there were no loopholes, U.S. steelmakers would receive negligible benefit from Keystone XL, because they have limited ability to meet the stringent materials requirements for the project. 
 
 The office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said it welcomes the allowance of non-U.S. steel, calling it a "recognition that the integrated Canadian and U.S. steel industries are mutually beneficial." 
 
 Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said on Twitter that allowing non-U.S. steel was "important for companies like Evraz Steel," a local subsidiary of Russia's Evraz PLC, which had signed on to provide 24 per cent of the steel before Keystone XL's rejection by Obama. 

 The Keystone XL pipeline won’t be required to use American-made steel to earn construction approval from the Trump administration, the White House said Friday, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims. 
 
 The president’s executive order mandating the use of U.S. steel is “specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday. 
 
 “Since this one is already current, under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it would be hard to go back,” she said. 
 
 That’s welcome news to TransCanada Corp. as its moves forward with the $8 billion project. The pipeline would span 1,179 miles (1,897 kilometers) from Alberta through three states -- Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska -- before connecting to an existing network feeding crude to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. The line would carry as much as 830,000 barrels of oil a day, including some from North Dakota’s Bakken shale. 
 
 In 2012, the company said it expected half of the 821,000 tons of steel needed to construct the pipeline to be produced inside of the United States. The remainder of the steel was expected to be imported from Canada, Italy, and India. 
 
 Public Comments 
 
 But exempting Keystone XL from the president’s requirement to use American steel would seem to fly in the face of Trump’s public comments. Trump has repeatedly boasted that he forced pipeline companies to agree to use U.S. steel in their projects. 
 
 During a Feb. 23 meeting with manufacturing CEOs at the White House, Trump told U.S. Steel Corp chief executive Mario Longhi that “the pipe is coming from the U.S.” for the Keystone project, as well as Energy Transfer Partners LP’s Dakota Access pipeline. 
 
 “We put you heavy into the pipeline business because we approved, as you know, the Keystone Pipeline and Dakota,” Trump told Longhi. “But they have to buy -- meaning, steel, so I’ll say U.S. Steel -- but steel made in this country and pipelines made in this country.” 
 
 During a Feb. 16 press conference, the president said that in exchange for using “the powers of government to make that pipeline happen” the administration “want them to use American steel.” 
 
 American Steel 
 
 “And they’re willing to do that, but nobody ever asked before I came along,” he said. “Even this order was drawn and they didn’t say that. And I’m reading the order, I’m saying, why aren’t we using American steel? And they said, that’s a good idea. We put it in.” 
 
 He repeated the claim a day later during a tour of a Boeing Co. plant in South Carolina. 
 
 “You probably saw the Keystone pipeline I approved recently, and the Dakota,” Trump said. “And I’m getting ready to sign the bill. I said, where is the pipe made? And they told me not here. I said, that’s good -- add a little sentence that you have to buy American steel. And you know what? That’s the way it is. It’s the way it’s going to be.” 
 
 Trump told a similar story later that weekend at a Feb. 18 rally in Melbourne, Florida. 
 
 Noting that he had had moved to “begin the construction” of the Keystone and Dakota projects, Trump said that as he was about to sign the order, he asked who would be manufacturing the pipe. 
 
 “Something this audience understands very well, right?” Trump said. “Simple question. The lawyers put this very complex document in front. I said, who makes the pipe? They said, sir, it can be made anywhere. I said, not anymore. So I put a little clause on the bottom: The pipe has to be made in the United States of America if we’re going to have pipelines.” 
 
 Under Construction 
 
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 A White House official who would only discuss the pipeline issue on the condition of anonymity said the Commerce Department was working on a plan for the president’s order requiring U.S. steel, so the administration couldn’t implement it until that effort had completed. Moreover, the official said, because the Keystone XL pipeline is currently under construction it does not count as a new, retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipeline. 
 
 Asked about the issue, TransCanada issued a statement saying it continued “to be encouraged as our Presidential Permit application makes its way through the approval process.” 
 
 “This project will support U.S. energy security, create thousands of well-paying U.S. jobs and provide substantial economic benefits,” the company said. 
 
 Canada’s U.S. ambassador, David MacNaughton, said Friday in an interview that negotiations on Keystone’s route are going "extremely well" with federal authorities and "I don’t see any big hurdles" from the Trump administration. He called the outlook for the project "very positive." 

 “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,” the White House spokeswoman said. | Getty White House: Keystone exempt from 'Buy American' requirements 
 
 The Keystone XL Pipeline will not be subject to President Donald Trump's executive order requiring infrastructure projects to be built with American steel, a White House spokeswoman said today. 
 
 Trump signed the order calling for the Commerce Department to develop a plan for U.S. steel to be used in “all new pipelines, as well as retrofitted, repaired or expanded pipelines” inside the U.S. projects “to the maximum extent possible.” 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 By the White House’s judgment, that description would not include Keystone XL, which developer TransCanada first proposed in 2008. 
 
 “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,” the White House spokeswoman said. 
 
 That interpretation removes one potential hurdle for Keystone, and it clarifies shifting rhetoric from Trump on the order. 
 
 “We put you heavy into the pipeline business because we approved, as you know, the Keystone Pipeline, but they have to buy ... steel made in this country and pipelines made in this country,” Trump told U.S. Steel Chief Executive Mario Longhi at a Feb. 23 meeting. 
 
 However, in his address to Congress earlier this week, Trump spoke of the order in the same sentence as Keystone but carefully described it as directing "that new American pipelines be made with American steel." 
 
 Removing the steel condition could help persuade TransCanada to fully drop the $15 billion NAFTA complaint against the U.S., which it suspended earlier this week. 
 
 A TransCanada spokesman declined today to comment on the NAFTA lawsuit. 
 

– President Trump's "Buy American" order calling for American steel to be used in American pipeline projects doesn't cover the Canadian, Italian, and Indian steel being used in the Keystone XL Pipeline project. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Friday that Trump's order applies to "new, retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipelines," but Keystone is "currently in the process of being constructed, so it does not count as a new, retrofitted, repaired, or expanded pipeline," Politico reports. She added that since "the steel is already literally sitting there, it would be hard to go back." Trump revived the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects with days of taking office, and the AP notes that as recently as last week, he said American steel must be used "or we're not building one." Bloomberg reports that the president repeated the pledge to build Keystone XL with American steel at several rallies last month, boasting that he had demanded the clause before signing the order. Around half the 821,000 tons of steel needed for the project is expected to come from outside the US. Justin Trudeau's office praised the allowance of non-American steel in a statement Friday, calling it a "recognition that the integrated Canadian and US steel industries are mutually beneficial," the CBC reports.