By Paul Berger

President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at reviving America's flagging maritime industry and countering China's growing dominance in ocean shipping.

The order gives National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and the heads of government agencies up to seven months to draw up plans to resurrect domestic shipbuilding and the maritime workforce. Both are vital to economic prosperity and national security, the order says.

"We are going to be spending a lot of money on shipbuilding," Trump said moments before signing the order in a video broadcast on C-Span. "We used to build a ship a day, and now we don't do a ship a year practically."

The order sets out a framework for how the administration plans to rebuild America's maritime industrial base as a counterweight to China's dominance in shipbuilding, port crane manufacturing and rapidly growing fleet of naval and commercial ships.

Shipping industry officials say the order was heavily influenced by Waltz. As a member of Congress last year, Waltz co-sponsored bipartisan legislation -- the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act -- to boost domestic shipbuilding and expand the U.S.-flagged commercial fleet.

The bid to counter China's maritime rise is a rare instance of Democratic and Republican alignment, said William Henagan, a former Biden administration official and now a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

China churns out more vessels than any other country. Its shipyards account for nearly 29% of containerships on the water and 70% of containerships on order, when measured by capacity, according to data firm Linerlytica. The nation also dominates construction of shipping containers and ship-to-shore cranes.

Henagan said that within a decade seaborne trade could be impossible without Chinese-built or -owned assets. This would provide China with the same geopolitical leverage America enjoys because of the U.S. dollar's role in international finance and Washington's ability to impose financial sanctions.

"If China develops the analogous capacity to exert influence in maritime commerce," Henagan said, "the balance of geopolitical power could shift for a generation."

Henagan said the order sets in motion many of the parts of last year's Ships for America Act that can be implemented by the White House. However, it will require congressional authorization to appropriate funds, such as for a proposed Maritime Security Trust Fund to raise money for shipbuilding and other maritime sectors.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), a co-sponsor of the original Ships for America Act, and Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.), as well as two House members, said they would reintroduce the bill in the coming weeks to provide needed congressional authorizations for maritime sectors.

The order also references a U.S. trade representative proposal to impose hefty fees on Chinese-built or Chinese-flagged ships calling at U.S. ports. The order directs the USTR to also recommend ways to counter anticompetitive activity in the maritime sector. This may include fees on Chinese-built cranes and other cargo-handling equipment.

Hundreds of companies and trade groups submitted written comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and dozens appeared to testify in March at a two-day hearing, mostly to oppose the ship fees.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told the Senate Finance Committee this week that the administration is revising the plan because of the public comments.

Write to Paul Berger at paul.berger@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 09, 2025 18:09 ET (22:09 GMT)

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