U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., Friday (local time). Reuters-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump's administration unveiled an action plan Friday to rebuild America's shipbuilding industry, pledging to continue "historic" cooperation with Korea and Japan, and proposing a strategy enabling the first ships in a contract to be built in an allied foreign shipyard.
The White House released "America's Maritime Action Plan," as Seoul and Washington are pushing to strengthen cooperation under the former's "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)" proposal as part of a bilateral trade and investment agreement.
In April, Trump signed an executive order, titled "Restoring America's Maritime Dominance," which calls for drawing up the plan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought, in coordination with other Cabinet members, developed the plan.
The Trump administration has been keen on shoring up America's shipbuilding sector as China is known to have over 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States in the midst of an intensifying Sino-U.S. strategic competition.
"The United States will consult with China on shipbuilding capacity issues and continue its historic cooperation with the Republic of Korea and Japan on revitalizing U.S. shipbuilding," the document says, codifying collaboration with the two core Asian allies in the plan.
The plan proposes a "Bridge Strategy" for a multi-ship buy, in which the first ships in a shipbuilding contract are built in a foreign shipbuilder's home shipyard, while concurrent direct capital investments are made in a U.S. shipyard they have purchased or partnered with to eventually onshore construction in the U.S.
The strategy apparently reflects a reality of the U.S.' poor domestic shipbuilding capacity at a time when it seeks to secure more vessels at a fast pace.
The document also points out that Trump has secured at least $150 billion of dedicated investment for America's shipbuilding industry, noting that the U.S. Commerce Department is working to mobilize these funds to achieve the investments.
For the MASGA initiative, Korea has earmarked $150 billion, part of a $350 billion investment that it has pledged under the trade deal with the Trump administration in return for Washington lowering "reciprocal" tariffs on the Asian country to 15 percent from 25 percent.
Source: Korea Times News
