South Korea is making shipbuilding the anchor of its trade diplomacy with Washington, rolling out billions in promises to revive America’s rusted yards in a bid to keep Donald Trump on side.
President Lee Jae Myung’s first US trip saw him push a $350bn investment package, with $150bn earmarked for shipbuilding under the slogan ‘Make America Shipbuilding Great Again.’
The centrepiece is Hanwha Ocean’s development plans at Philly Shipyard, aimed at ramping output from fewer than two ships a year to 10. Seoul hopes that effort, alongside HD Hyundai’s new Cerberus-backed investment fund and Samsung Heavy’s MRO tie-up with Vigor Marine, will cement Korea’s role as the saviour of US yards.
Trump, eager to counter China’s dominance at sea, has embraced the pitch. “We’re going to go back into the shipbuilding business again,” Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with Lee.
“The K-shipbuilding industry, equipped with the world’s strongest capabilities, will bring about a renaissance of the US shipbuilding industry and create a new historic turning point for mutual prosperity,” Lee said an event at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies after the summit.
But the obstacles are formidable: outdated US facilities, a shortage of skilled workers, the Jones Act’s protectionist restrictions, and a supply chain not fit for modern mass production. Even Korean executives admit it could take years to train local workers and scale up output.
Still, Seoul is betting the promise of shipyard jobs in swing states will keep Trump happy and secure softer tariffs for Korean goods. For Lee, shipbuilding isn’t just about steel and welds — it’s about anchoring South Korea’s trade ties to America’s politics. The Korean president will join members of the Trump administration in a visit to Hanwha Philly Shipyard today.
HD Hyundai’s newly announced $2bn joint investment fund with Cerberus aims to finance US naval and offshore newbuilds. The two companies are already working together at a yard in the Philippines. Earlier this summer, South Korea’s largest shipbuilder said it will work with Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) to get mid-sized LNG dual-fuel containerships built in the US by 2028. In April, HD Hyundai signed an MOU with Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest defence shipbuilder in the US, to jointly advance productivity and high-tech shipbuilding practices. It also entered a supply chain partnership with Fairbanks Morse Defense and signed an education-focused MOU last year with the University of Michigan and Seoul National University to cultivate talent in the shipbuilding sector.
Samsung Heavy Industries, meanwhile, announced yesterday it is pairing with Oregon-based Vigor Marine to modernise repair yards and expand naval MRO capacity on the US west coast.
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