The president says the new office in the executive branch will ‘have a huge impact.’
President Donald Trump told lawmakers during an address to Congress on Tuesday that his administration will create an office of shipbuilding in the White House and offer new tax incentives for the sector.
Trump announced the new office while vowing to revive the American shipbuilding industry as part of efforts to “protect our citizens like they’ve never been protected before.”
“To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” Trump said.
“For that purpose, I am announcing tonight that we will create a new office of shipbuilding in the White House and offer special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America,” the president continued.
Trump added that creating the brand-new office in the executive branch will “have a huge impact” and said America will make news ships “very fast, very soon.”
He did not provide further details.
Trump’s announcement was welcomed by the Shipbuilders Council of America, a trade association representing the U.S. shipyard industry.
“We applaud the creation of the White House Office of Shipbuilding, and the entire shipyard industrial base not only stands at the ready to work with the new Office of U.S. Shipbuilding but we are also ready to answer the call to design and build America’s commercial and military fleets,” said Matthew Paxton, president of the association in a statement.
“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,” Paxton added.
Trump’s comments come as China continues to maintain dominance over the global maritime industry, with the communist-ruled country serving as the world’s largest producer of container ships.
According to data from Dutch bank ING, China’s shipbuilding market share grew from less than 5 percent in 1999 to more than 50 percent in 2023.
The country also controls 95 percent of shipping container production and 86 percent of the world’s supply of intermodal chassis, used to securely transport shipping containers.
Earlier this month, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it’s considering imposing fees ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million on Chinese shipping companies, as well as companies that use Chinese-built ships or have ordered ships from Chinese shipyards.
The agency is currently seeking public comment on the proposed action.
The proposal comes after the office in January launched an investigation into China’s “unfair trade practices in shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors,” as part of efforts to dominate the global market.
China has rejected U.S. assertions and expressed strong opposition to the probe, calling it a “blatant display of unilateralism and protectionism” that it said was “motivated by domestic political interests.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.