President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to review the shipbuilding industry, specifically as it relates to the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard.
According to a report from Politico, Trump’s executive order calls for a review of the shipbuilding in the next three months, while it was charged with improving “the efficiency and effectiveness of these processes.”
A Problem Long in the Making
In his address to the joint session of Congress in early March, President Donald Trump highlighted the state of the American shipbuilding industry and pledged to make it a priority.
“To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” the president said.
“And 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, where it belongs,” Mr. Trump added. “We used to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact.”
It was a month later that Trump signed the executive order that will charge DOGE with attempting to review the issue. It is hardly the first time lawmakers have sought to tackle it. A year ago, the Biden Administration launched a trade investigation into China’s dominance in the shipbuilding sector, and it was found that Beijing’s subsidizing the industry has been a key factor.
Meanwhile, the U.S. shipbuilding industry has declined since the 1970s, when it was producing about 5% of the world fleet, somewhere between 15 and 25 new ships annually. But the subsidies that the U.S. had in place were pulled during the Reagan years, and production fell to the current rate of five ships per year.
As previously reported, since the 1970s 14 “defense-related shipyards” have also been shuttered, while only one new shipyard has opened. In addition, the number of firms still in the shipbuilding sector has dwindled due to consolidation. Moreover, the shipbuilding industry continues to face an ongoing challenge to attract, train and retain skilled labor. There haven’t been enough new workers to replace those who are retiring.
At the same time, China’s shipbuilding went from producing around 5% of the world’s commercial shipping capacity to now building more than 50%. That has allowed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to rapidly expand.
Nearly every submarine and aircraft carrier being built for the U.S. Navy are running behind schedule, and that includes the latest Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast attack submarines, while it is unlikely that the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) supercarrier will meet its July delivery date. In the case of the carrier, the issues are related to systems on the ship, but it was already well behind schedule.
Will DOGE Have Any Success?
It isn’t clear what DOGE could find that isn’t already clear, but Trump’s executive order did call for the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Labor, Transportation, and Homeland Security to develop a Maritime Action Plan by this November, which will outline the ways that the U.S. can invest in the shipbuilding industrial base.
Lawmakers have expressed concern about the executive order, even as they acknowledge the problem it is meant to overcome.
“Adding shipbuilding to DOGE’s agenda is highly questionable given its admitted blunders,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn), ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, said in a statement. “DOGE is not going to create welders, electricians, and outside machinists through the tools they have, which is exactly what we need to build on the momentum we are seeing in the shipbuilding industry.”
However, as Politico also noted, Matthew Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America president, offered his praise for Trump’s executive order, and said it “will provide a powerful environment to rebuild our shipbuilding capacity and build the fleet of the future.”
