National Interest

by Robert C. O’Brien

    Rebuilding American shipbuilding will require harnessing private sector dynamism, not top-down directives.

    For too long, America’s maritime dominance has eroded even as China builds new ships at breakneck speed. This decline in US shipbuilding has allowed our adversaries to dominate the global market and gain leverage over world maritime trade. President Donald Trump, with his call for a “Golden Fleet,” is addressing the urgent need to expand the size and capabilities of our Navy and Coast Guard by adding more submarines, a new class of Trump battleships, destroyers, frigates and cutters to project power and safeguard our interests. But true maritime power requires far more than combat vessels. We also require a robust ecosystem of civilian support ships.

    Building and maintaining a full spectrum of vessels demands more than the handful of specialized naval shipyards we have today. It requires a vibrant, nationwide industrial base, from shipyards along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, to facilities on the Great Lakes, to yards along our inland rivers. It means our prime shipbuilders, smaller specialty and startup yards and strong builders from allied nations are all working at capacity. This distributed network would create high-paying jobs in communities across America, strengthen supply chains against disruption and provide surge capacity when national security demands it.

    We once had that capacity. During World War II, American commercial shipyards transformed into wartime powerhouses. Shipwrights, welders and steel workers from every corner of the country produced thousands of ships, turning the industrial tide against the Axis. That era of mobilization proved what a united America could achieve. But that mighty industrial engine has rusted away.

    Today, China, not the United States, builds the majority of the world’s commercial ships, subsidizing its yards to capture market share while our share languishes below 1 percent. Our merchant marine fleet has shrunk to a shadow of its former self, with fewer than 100 US-flagged vessels in international trade. In a crisis, we lack the commercial hulls to mobilize quickly for military sealift.

    President Trump grasps this vulnerability. Last year, he issued Executive Order 14269 to restore America’s maritime dominance, directing his administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to rebuild our shipbuilding base, retrain workers and reclaim our place on the oceans. This month, the White House delivered the Maritime Action Plan. This 42-page blueprint is thoughtful, detailed and pragmatic. It rejects heavy-handed government mandates in favor of smart incentives to unleash private-sector innovation and investment.

    The plan emphasizes reindustrialization through targeted incentives, workforce training for shipyard workers and merchant mariners, trade policies to shield our industrial base and expansion of the merchant marine. Key proposals include Maritime Prosperity Zones to attract capital to strategic locations, a Maritime Security Trust Fund to recycle existing fees and taxes into consistent, long-term funding for shipyards and infrastructure, tax credits and grants to spur private yard investments and repairs, closer collaboration with allies to adopt best practices in commercial shipbuilding and growing a commercial fleet that doubles as military reserve capacity. It also calls for slashing burdensome regulations, outdated environmental reviews and redundant permitting that delay projects and inflate costs without delivering meaningful benefits.

    The administration has laid out an ambitious vision, but it will be difficult for it to implement this plan on its own. Congress must act to provide the legislative backbone to authorize new programs, establish funding mechanisms and reform laws to enable rapid progress. The SHIPS for America Act could be another important step down this road. Sponsored by Senator Todd Young (R-IN), this bipartisan, bicameral legislation mirrors and expands on the Maritime Action Plan.

    It would create the Maritime Security Trust Fund, authorize Prosperity Zones, offer tax relief for shipbuilding, cut red tape, fund workforce training and more. At its core, the SHIPS Act aims to build a Strategic Commercial Fleet of 250 American-built, American-crewed vessels operating in international commerce during peacetime, generating revenue, jobs and expertise, while ready for call-up in contingencies. It’s a modern echo of the World War II model, adapted for 21st-century threats.

    Congress must seize this moment that President Trump created. With strong bipartisan support in both houses and a clear mandate from the president, it’s a serious policy to address a glaring national security gap and the White House stands ready to execute it. But to break ground on new shipyards, weld steel and train workers during this term, Congress should pass the SHIPS Act swiftly.

    This is the kind of substantive, problem-solving legislation Washington should champion. Passing the SHIPS for America Act in support of the administration’s Maritime Action Plan would signal American resolve, rebuild our industrial might, create jobs from coast to coast and ensure we can outbuild and outlast any rival. It’s time to make American ships again.