President Donald Trump wants the U.S. to build more ships, “very fast, very soon,” as China's naval shipbuilding capacity is now more than 230 times greater than America's, reports Axios.
Trump is also mulling having a White House shipbuilding office, according to the report.
Trump during his speech to Congress last week said he would “resurrect the American shipbuilding industry.”
"We used it to make so many ships," he said. "We don't make them anymore very much, but we're going to make them very fast, very soon."
Trump's administration aims to pay for an American shipbuilding comeback with help from potentially hefty port fees on Chinese-built vessels as well as ships from fleets with China-made vessels, according to a draft executive order seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The heads of four major labor unions in mid-February called on Trump to boost American shipbuilding and enforce tariffs and other “strong penalties” against China for its increasing dominance in that sphere.
The letter notes China manufactured more than 1,000 ocean-going vessels in 2023, while the United States made fewer than 10 ships. It adds that the Chinese shipbuilding industry received more than $100 billion in government support from 2010 to 2018, such that Chinese shipyards accounted for the majority of worldwide orders last year.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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