The Trump administration may offer tax breaks as part of a wide-ranging effort to revitalize U.S. shipbuilding and blunt the dominance of China in the global maritime industry.
In a speech Tuesday to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump reiterated his support for the latest proposals to resurrect domestic capacity for the national defense and merchant maritime sectors.
Plans include a new office of shipbuilding within the White House, part of a package of proposals included in a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Feb. 24.
“We used to make so many ships. We don’t make ’em anymore very much, but we’re gonna make them very fast, very soon,”Trump said.
Trump’s speech came on the same day a U.S.-based consortium of BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and MSC Group of Geneva announced the $22.8 billion acquisition of CK Hutchison (0001.HK), an operator of global port terminals based in China. The deal includes the ports of Cristobal and Balboa in Panama, and follows Trump’s ongoing assertions that the U.S. would take back control of the Panama Canal.
“To further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal. And we’ve already started doing it,” he told Congress.
Trump repeated a claim, without evidence, that China controls the canal.
“We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
The White House is preparing an executive order based on previous proposals including fees on Chinese ships calling U.S. ports, and berthing preference for U.S.-flagged ships.
The order also calls for charges on container cranes manufactured in China, higher pay for workers at shipyards building nuclear-powered vessels, and a review of procurement by the Navy and other federal entities, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a draft summary of the order.
In 2024 China became the world’s leading builder of container ships, for the first time accounting for more than half of the combined current fleet.
The executive order would direct the port charges to fund new Maritime Opportunity Zones and a Maritime Security Trust Fund.
Shipping executives and analysts say that the U.S. port charges could raise rates on a container moving from Asia to the United States by $800, and cost as much as $20 billion overall. They warned smaller ports may lose services if carriers decide the high fees make calls there unprofitable.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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