On Aug. 25, President Donald Trump hosted President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea at the White House, just a month after the latest round of negotiations. At their first summit, Trump threw his support behind what Seoul has branded the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” initiative, or MASGA — a plan that South Korea advanced as part of the deal.
The initiative promises sweeping investments: new U.S. shipyards, training programs to rebuild a skilled workforce and joint maintenance contracts that would pair South Korean companies with American personnel to service Navy vessels.
“We’re going to be buying ships from South Korea. We’re also going to have them make ships here with our people, using our people,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We love their ships.”
He tempered the enthusiasm with a note of caution: “Shipbuilding is a tough one to start. You know, it takes a while.”
A day later, Lee toured Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, a Korean-owned facility once emblematic of America’s industrial might but long since hollowed out. Hanwha acquired the site last year for $100 million, securing its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier order in half a century. Now, it serves as the partnership’s first tangible proof of concept.
“Just as Korean entrepreneurs and workers created the miracle of Korean shipbuilding on barren land, let Korea and the United States join forces to make the MASGA miracle a reality,” President Lee said at the shipyard, echoing the rhetoric of industrial rebirth.
For the United States, the partnership marks a rare attempt to confront decades of decline.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, better known as the Jones Act, shielded domestic shipbuilders from foreign competition but also stifled innovation and global competitiveness. Later restrictions, including the Byrnes-Tollefson Amendment of the 1960s, further isolated American yards by mandating domestic construction of military vessels.
The consequences have been stark. Submarine repairs now take an average of 20 months before even entering multiyear overhauls and refueling cycles.
Meanwhile, China has seized dominance, capturing about 60 percent of global shipbuilding orders last year and surpassing the U.S. in fleet size, according to defense data.
Washington’s response has mixed sticks with carrots: tariffs and fees on Chinese-built ships alongside expanded cooperation with allies. South Korea, the world’s second-largest shipbuilder after China, emerged as the partner of choice. In the first half of this year, Korean shipyards claimed more than a quarter of global orders, buoyed by their dominance in advanced vessels such as LNG carriers.
That dominance comes with scars of its own.
After the 2008 financial crisis, South Korea’s major shipbuilders — Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering — collapsed under debts and losses. Daewoo’s downfall, marred by accounting fraud, ended in a takeover by Hanwha and the birth of Hanwha Ocean.
Now resurgent, Korean shipbuilders are moving quickly in the United States.
Hanwha Ocean has signed contracts with the U.S. Navy for repair work on several ships, including the Wally Schirra, the Yukon and the Charles Drew. On the same day as Lee’s shipyard visit, the company announced $5 billion in new investment in Philadelphia and orders for 11 vessels.
Hyundai has secured its own foothold, signing a memorandum of understanding on U.S. maritime investment and winning its first Navy maintenance deal earlier this month.
Samsung followed suit on Aug. 26, entering a partnership with Vigor Marine Group for naval support ship work.
For Trump, the deal represented both an economic and symbolic victory.
“We really gave up the shipbuilding industry foolishly many years ago,” he said. “We’re going to be making our own ships again, soon.”
Whether the promise can outpace the challenges remains uncertain. But in an era of intensifying competition at sea, Washington and Seoul are betting that a cross-Pacific alliance can breathe new life into an industry long left for dead.
reporter
Kim Dong-young
davekim0807@ajupress.com
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