As part of his sweeping national address on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump promised to establish a new office of shipbuilding within the White House to revitalize the industry and bolster American naval strength.
The vow — which came during the national security section of Trump’s nearly two-hour speech — was included among broader plans to “boost our defense industrial base” for America.
“We are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” Trump said, eliciting applause from Republican lawmakers in the House chamber for the address.
“We used to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact to further enhance our national security.”
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Trump also promised “special tax incentives to bring this industry home” but did not offer any more specifics. The White House did not immediately provide any other details of what the new office will oversee or who will lead the effort.
Last month, during the confirmation hearing for John Phelan, Trump’s pick to serve as Navy Secretary, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., lamented that “just about every major U.S. shipbuilding program is behind schedule, over budget or irreparably off track.”
He called for a complete overhaul of Navy shipbuilding goals and processes.
“We must stabilize shipbuilding programs, adopt commercial best practices and incentivize the shipyards to address workforce and productivity issues in a collaborative rather than combative manner,” Wicker said. “And we can quickly inject innovation into naval procurement, particularly on unmanned ships.”
Phelan voiced support for that approach, but he did not mention any specifics related to the new White House office.
Earlier this year, officials from the Congressional Budget Office said the Navy would need to spend more than $40 billion annually for 30 years for the U.S. Navy to fulfill its proposed plans to expand its battle force fleet.
There are currently 295 battle force ships in the fleet, with that number expected to drop to 283 ships by 2027 because of planned retirements. The service has stated it hopes to grow the fleet to 381 ships by 2054.
The new shipbuilding office would be a direct counter to the Chinese shipbuilding industry, the largest in the world. Industry officials estimate that Chinese firms have built nearly half of the world’s merchant vessels, and the country has publicly invested heavily in their own naval build-up.
In Tuesday’s speech, Trump also promised to build a new missile defense shield to protect America and continue other military reforms to strengthen the armed forces.
In a statement after the speech, officials from the Shipbuilders Council of America praised the announcement.
“Since the founding days of our nation, the U.S. shipyard industry and industrial base has played a central role in national and domestic security, and remains steadfast in its commitment to maintaining our nation’s security vessels while building the fleet of the future,” said Matthew Paxton, president of the group. “By fully utilizing the existing domestic shipyard capacity, the shipyard industrial base can meet the growing demands of national defense, restore American competitiveness, and create thousands of skilled jobs in communities across the nation.”
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
