President to "Make Shipbuilding Great Again"

President Trump announced the creation of a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House to boost the U.S. defense industrial base. The administration will resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding, he said.

According to a draft summary reviewed by the US Naval Institute News, the order includes measures ranging from raising revenue from fees on Chinese-built ships and cranes entering the U.S., to establishing a new office at the National Security Council to strengthen the domestic maritime sector.

Key figures running the effort include Ian Bennitt, a former Capitol Hill staffer who is currently serving as a special assistant to the president and the senior director of maritime and industrial capacity, and Cameron Humphrey, another former Hill aide who is now the director of maritime and industrial capacity, according to their LinkedIn accounts.

The measures also include raising wages for nuclear-shipyard workers and instructions to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to review government procurement processes, including the Navy’s. The document is labeled as a draft and could change.

President Trump, in a speech to Congress Tuesday night, said his administration wants to resurrect commercial and military shipbuilding in America and would create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House. Noting the U.S. had fallen behind in shipbuilding, Trump said, “We’re going to make them very fast, very soon.”

The measures being considered draw on bipartisan proposals that have been circulating in Washington for several years. These include pending legislation in Congress aimed at restoring U.S. shipbuilding to proposals floated by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office that would charge fees on Chinese-flagged or Chinese-built ships calling at U.S. ports.

One shipping-industry official said the executive order was influenced by Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who as a member of Congress last year co-sponsored bipartisan legislation aimed at expanding the U.S.-flagged fleet and providing financial support and tax incentives to U.S. shipbuilders.

National-security concerns have spurred members of both parties to increasingly give priority to the maritime industry amid fears that U.S. shipbuilding and the U.S. commercial fleet that would be needed to support wars overseas have fallen decades behind China.

The draft executive order includes measures that create Maritime Opportunity Zones and a Maritime Security Trust Fund to boost investments. It also says that revenue from fees on Chinese cranes and ships at U.S. ports would fund domestic maritime investments.

The plan also calls on the Department of Homeland Security to impose the Harbor Maintenance Tax on foreign cargo and certify that carriers offloading foreign cargo in Mexico or Canada pay the relevant charges and another 10 percent fee, according to the executive order language.

“The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take immediate action to require all foreign origin cargo to clear the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) process at a U.S. port of entry for security and collection of all applicable customs, taxes, tariffs, fees, interest, and other charges,” reads the draft EO.