Trump’s Plan to Revive U.S. Shipbuilding
The U.S. shipbuilding industry, which peaked in the 1970s, has struggled due to high costs and a complex regulatory structure
President Donald Trump is making a push to reinvigorate America’s struggling shipbuilding industry, which has long lagged behind global leaders like China. On April 10, 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at reshaping the future of U.S. shipbuilding through a comprehensive Maritime Action Plan. The plan directs federal agencies to explore new financial support mechanisms — including the Defense Production Act, the Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital, and a proposed Maritime Security Trust Fund — while also pressuring the U.S. Trade Representative to respond to China’s anticompetitive practices in global shipbuilding.
The executive order works hand-in-hand with the SHIPS for America Act, a bipartisan legislative package introduced in December 2024. The bill seeks to grow the U.S.-flagged fleet by 250 ships over the next decade, building American-owned, American-crewed vessels capable of international operation — a clear effort to restore the U.S. Merchant Marine’s wartime readiness and economic resilience.
The scale of the challenge is hard to overstate. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, recently underscored the gap, noting China is “outproducing U.S. shipyards by nearly threefold” — a disparity that is altering the Indo-Pacific balance of power.