President Donald Trump is advocating for the United States to rapidly increase its shipbuilding efforts, emphasizing the urgency of the situation as China’s naval shipbuilding capacity far outpaces America’s by a margin of over 230 to one, according to an Axios report.
Additionally, Trump is considering the creation of a dedicated White House office focused on shipbuilding, as revealed in the same report.
During his recent address to Congress, Trump promised to “resurrect the American shipbuilding industry,” declaring, “We used it to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon.”
The Trump administration’s strategy to revive shipbuilding in America includes the potential for imposing significant port fees on vessels made in China, as well as on ships part of fleets that include Chinese-manufactured vessels, according to a draft executive order obtained by Reuters.
In February, leaders of four prominent labor unions wrote to Trump urging him to bolster U.S. shipbuilding and enforce stringent tariffs and other “strong penalties” against China for its growing control over the global shipbuilding market. The letter highlights that China produced more than 1,000 ocean-going ships in 2023, while the U.S. built fewer than 10. Furthermore, it points out that China’s shipbuilding industry received upwards of $100 billion in government subsidies between 2010 and 2018, allowing Chinese shipyards to dominate global orders in the past year.
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