Revitalizing U.S. Shipbuilding and Maritime Power

For decades, the United States neglected and failed to invest in commercial shipbuilding, undermining the maritime defense industrial base. During that same period, the People’s Republic of China aggressively deployed state subsidies, predatory trade practices, and industrial policy to capture the bulk of global shipbuilding and maritime logistics sectors. The consequences are undeniable: American shipyards have been hollowed out, while Chinese shipyards now capture more than 60 percent of the world’s new ship orders—placing a critical pillar of global trade and commerce and naval mobilization capacity increasingly under Beijing’s control.

As shipyards closed and supply chains moved overseas, maritime industrial communities eroded, leaving the United States increasingly reliant on foreign shipbuilding capacity. This decline has cost tens of thousands of high-skilled American manufacturing jobs and eroded critical workforce expertise that must be rebuilt. This has occurred across the country as shipyards and suppliers have downsized or closed and our maritime capabilities have reached a perilous point.

The U.S. produces fewer than 10 oceangoing vessels annually while China produces more than 1,000. That stark contrast shows the depths to which America’s maritime capacity has fallen.

The ability of a nation to build and repair vessels is fundamental to both national and economic security. In recent years, U.S. leaders have increasingly recognized the importance of strengthening and sustaining a strategic commercial fleet to support global trade, supply chain resilience, and domestic industrial capacity. With more than 80% of our military supplies transiting on commercial vessels, the loss of maritime power puts at risk our men and women in uniform who also need backup sealift capacity to supply them in times of crisis. Today, a growing share of the vessels supporting global commerce—and, by extension, critical supply chains tied to U.S. economic strength—are being built in Chinese shipyards.

The shipping sector carries 90% of all traded goods globally. In 2025, Chinese shipyards secured over 60% of the world’s new orders. Rebuilding the U.S. shipbuilding industry will boost domestic business and production and grow our economy. It will create good, family-supportive jobs as shipbuilding employs more than 100,000 jobs across the U.S., while suppliers employ more than 400,000 jobs nationwide.