Trump announces new White House shipbuilding office
“To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” President Donald Trump told lawmakers during a joint session of Congress.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) transits the Mediterranean Sea, Aug. 21, 2023. Gerald R. Ford is the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, representing a generational leap in the U.S. Navy’s capacity to project power on a global scale. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump today announced the creation of a shipbuilding office in the White House centered on revitalizing the nation’s commercial and naval shipbuilding industry.
“To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” Trump said during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, to applause from Republican lawmakers. “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.
“We used to make so many ships,” the president added. “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.”
Trump did not specify what kind of financial incentives the office could provide to industry, nor did he provide other details about the role the new office will play in bolstering naval shipbuilding.
The Navy’s shipbuilding industrial base has faced supply chain constraints and workforce shortages after years of consolidation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the mass retirements of skilled laborers. Over the past couple of years, Congress has provided billions in additional funds to shore up the submarine industrial base, which has been especially impacted by supply chain challenges.
The announcement of the new shipbuilding office is part of what Trump characterized as a focus on building “the most powerful military of the future,” which also includes the construction of a comprehensive missile defense system for the United States homeland that is now being called Golden Dome.
