The American Iron and Steel Institute is a trade association of North American steel producers. The group's mission includes advocating for public policy, education, and innovation for the Iron and Steel Industry. The Institute was established under the leadership of Elbert H. Gary (1846-1927) in 1908, after the Panic of 1907 brought an end to industry-wide consolidations. One of the oldest trade associations in the United States, the organization's first meeting was held in 1910.

Elbert H. Gary was a lawyer who went on to serve two terms as a judge in DuPage County, Illinois, from 1882 to 1890. Gary was known as "Judge Gary" thereafter. He retired from twenty-five years of practicing law to become president of the Federal Steel Corporation. He became head of the United States Steel Corporation in 1901, which was several companies, including Federal Steel Corporation, merged.

During World War I, under Judge Gary, the Institute was the primary coordinator with the government for all industry production, allocation, and prices. However, the Institute's staff remained small, and it had no paid president until 1932. The passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in the early days of the New Deal transformed the Institute as it did most trade associations. The NIRA worked to arrest the collapse of production and prices by imposing a system of industry-specific "Codes of Fair Competition," in effect forming each industry into a government-sponsored cartel in return for provisions to maximize employment. Working with the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, deGersdorf, Swaine & Wood, the Institute played the leading role in drawing up and administering the NIRA Code for the steel industry. Walter S. Tower (1881-1969) was named executive secretary in September 1933 and assumed active management of the Institute through May 1952. After the NIRA was ruled unconstitutional, the Institute mobilized to press the industry's case during the conflicts with government and labor during the later New Deal, beginning much more aggressive public relations work. The Institute began active technical research in the late 1930s by appointing a General Technical Committee. Much of this work focused on standardization. The first of a series of "Steel Product Manuals" appeared in 1937, and a Committee on Building Codes was set up in 1938.

In the 1940s, the Institute began cooperative research programs through its Committee on General Research. It also provided its members with up-to-date information on industrial relations, antitrust, health, and safety. The Committee on Public Relations disseminated information about the industry through pamphlets, press releases, films, and its publications, Steel Facts (1934+) and Steelways (1945+).

By 1954, the Institute had 2,500 individual and ninety-eight corporate members. In recent years, the Institute has focused on trade and environmental issues. The restructuring of the industry after 1970 has somewhat diluted the Institute's impact, with separate organizations now representing minimills and other specialties. Still, the American Iron and Steel Institute remains the major industry trade association.