Trump plans executive order to strengthen US shipbuilding, blunt China domination

Source: Reuters

Trump plans executive order to strengthen US shipbuilding, blunt China domination

Lisa Baertlein and Andrea Shalal
Wed, March 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM EST 3 min read

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. plans to levy fees on imports arriving on Chinese-made ships and offer tax credits to resuscitate domestic shipbuilding and reduce China's grip on the $150 billion global ocean shipping industry, a White House document seen by Reuters shows.

President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order that would also establish a Maritime Security Trust Fund as a dedicated funding source and create shipbuilding incentives through the use of tax credits, grants and loans, according to a draft fact sheet of the 18-point plan.

"The White House is standing up an office at the National Security Council to lead a whole-of-government effort to strengthen the maritime industrial base," the document said, following Trump's announcement of the plans during an address to Congress on Tuesday.

The Republican president's initiative won rare praise from Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to former President Joe Biden, who said decades of unfair trade practices by China had negatively affected U.S. commercial and military shipbuilding.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-plans-executive-order-strengthen-020821498.html