President Donald Trump vowed earlier this month to ramp up American shipbuilding, not only for our own military readiness and naval superiority, but also to combat the growing threat of China in shipping worldwide.
Threat might be an understatement, because China has become dominant in global shipbuilding, experts told The Washington Post.
"Revitalizing domestic shipbuilding is not only possible, but also a priority," Michael Wessel, a consultant with ties to the United Steelworkers union, told the Post. "The principal contributing factor to reduced capacity has been China's nonmarket pricing of ships. Order books have dried up.
"We have existing yards that can do more today, and we have facilities that can be brought online."
China's market share in global shipbuilding was less than 5% in 1999 and rose to 50% by 2023, according to a Congressional Research Service report, which warned of "vulnerabilities across the U.S. economy."
American deindustralizing due to globalism pushed by former President Barack Obama's policies "poses risks both to our national security and our workforce," Vice President J.D. Vance said in a speech Tuesday.
After churning out "three ships every two days" during World War II, Vance lamented, the U.S. is now producing only five ships a year.
The White House has created a new office to support U.S. shipbuilding, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has proposed tariffs and fees on Chinese-made ships, which will be discussed Monday in a public hearing.
Greer hopes the incentives will "create leverage to obtain the elimination" of China's shipbuilding dominance, according to the Post.
Trump's critics doubt the success of this initiative like so many others, noting the taxing of the global supply chain.
"It appears to be written by people who have absolutely no idea how the maritime supply chain works," Vespucci Maritime CEO Lars Jensen told the Post. "The container lines will adjust and cut out the smaller ports. The consequence is going to be massive port congestion in the larger ports."
We have seen this before during the COVID supply chain crisis, noted World Shipping Council President Joe Kramek.
"You are absolutely going to disrupt the U.S. economy," Kramek told the Post. "You'll create COVID-like congestion at places like L.A., Long Beach and New York."
Despite the criticism by skeptics, Trump's push to rebuild U.S. shipbuilding is finding rare bipartisan support from Americans, with 72% saying the U.S. cannot remain dependent on China and other foreign producers to build ships, a poll released Friday showed.
The survey of 2,204 adults, conducted March 10-12 by Morning Consult for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, showed strong concern about China's grip on the $150 billion global ocean shipping industry and the negative national security implications for the U.S.
Only 11% said America could rely on China and other countries to build ships for U.S. commercial and military needs.
"This is one of those rare moments where there's a strong bipartisan thread here of wanting to move forward," AAM President Scott Paul said. "And there's pretty good support on Capitol Hill for being aggressive on shipbuilding as well."
AAM, a policy group led by the United Steelworkers and domestic manufacturers, released the poll ahead of Monday's hearing, which will include discussing charging up to $1.5 million for Chinese-built vessels entering U.S. ports.
Information from Reuters was used to compile this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.