Inside Trump’s plans to make U.S. shipbuilding industry great again

President Donald Trump has vowed to lead a revival in U.S. shipbuilding, but the success of this manufacturing renaissance in a key sector for national security will rely on the expertise from overseas.

The administration’s goal of a shipbuilding boom is a part of Trump’s “Make America Great” policy agenda. Trump signed an executive order in April to bolster the shipbuilding industry, but many industry executives have warned it won’t be easy given the current state of the domestic industry, and foreign investment and collaboration are key. The Trump administration’s “Make American Shipyards Great Again” initiative is looking to build out liquified natural gas tankers, polar ice-breakers, and Navy vessels.

“The American shipbuilding industry saw a boom twice in the past 110 years,” Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta, tells CNBC. “The first boom was during World War I, the second, World War II,” he said.

China, which has roughly 232 times the shipbuilding capacity of the U.S., dominates the global commercial shipbuilding industry. The U.S. presently has eight active shipyards. China has over 300.

The Trump administration’s shipbuilding plan is an extension of an investigation into Chinese shipbuilding by the United States Trade Representative under the Biden and Trump administrations. The USTR 301 investigation found the Chinese government has bolstered its shipbuilding dominance through the use of significant subsidies and designating the industry as strategic. The investigation said the acts, policies, and practices were “unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.”

The U.S. recently began to charge fees on ships built in China visiting U.S. ports, which led to retaliatory measures from China, but the two nations agreed to a one-year pause as part of a November trade truce.

In 2008, China surpassed Japan in shipbuilding output. In 2010, China overtook South Korea to become the world’s largest shipbuilder, both in production capacity and new orders. Since then, China’s lead has continued to grow. Its global market share in shipbuilding stands at 53%, followed by South Korea and Japan.

The 2025 order book for new vessels shows China accounts for 75 percent of orders, with South Korea at 19 percent, and the U.S. at 0.2 percent, according to data shared by Sand.

“When you look at the orders, making American shipbuilding great again is a tall order. Foreign expertise needs to be brought in,” Sand said.

Key foreign companies involved in U.S. shipbuilding

To bolster the country’s shipbuilding and training of U.S. workers, the Trump administration has inked deals with foreign shipbuilders.

Three shipbuilding affiliates of South-Korean based Hanwha Group, the third-largest shipbuilder in the world, are playing a key part in this plan.

During July trade negotiations, South Korea and the United States announced a $350 billion investment deal, with $150 billion of that money to be allocated to maritime investment. The overall trade deal was…