Trump administration releases Maritime Action Plan aimed at resurrecting US shipbuilding

By Lisa Baertlein

Feb 13 (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday released its plan to rebuild U.S. shipbuilding and other maritime businesses, paid for in part by port fees on cargo delivered to the United States on ships made in China – levies the U.S. and China agreed to pause for one year.

The Maritime Action Plan offers a road map for the revival of U.S. shipbuilding, which has shrunk since World War Two and now severely lags China and other nations.

Coming in at more than 30 pages, the plan calls for establishing maritime prosperity zones to bolster investment, reforming workforce training and education, expanding the fleet of U.S.-built and U.S.-flagged commercial ships, establishing a dedicated funding stream through a Maritime Security Trust Fund and reducing regulations. 

The Trump administration early last year announced plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country’s grip on the global maritime industry and help pay for a U.S. shipbuilding renaissance. The so-called Section 301 penalties followed a U.S. probe that concluded China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate global shipping.  

The fees, which sparked intense pushback from the global shipping industry and intensified tensions between the world’s two largest economies, hit on October 14 and were expected to generate an estimated $3.2 billion annually from Chinese-built vessels sailing to U.S. ports. But China retaliated with its own port fees on U.S.-linked ships and the tit-for-tat fees disrupted global shipping. Soon after, the two sides struck a deal to put the levies on hold for 12 months.  

On Friday, Shipyard owners, investors and the bipartisan sponsors of the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act welcomed President Donald Trump’s maritime plan, which landed months later than hoped. 

U.S. Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, said there is substantial overlap between Trump’s vision and the plan in that proposed law, which he reintroduced last year with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and other lawmakers. 

Importantly, the SHIPS Act would establish a Maritime Security Trust Fund to reinvest port fee proceeds into maritime security and infrastructure projects such as shipyard revitalization. It has rare backing from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington, but has not made swift progress.

“The announcement today should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to act quickly on this bill in order to provide the legal authorities and resources necessary to make this plan a reality,” Young said. “It’s time to make American ships again.”

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)