South Korean Shipbuilders Partner With Trump To Rebuild U.S. Navy

Donald Trump initiated the Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) project following a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. The initiative seeks to address a crisis in U.S. Navy programs, which Secretary of the Navy John Phelan described as "a mess" due to budget overruns and delays.

South Korean shipbuilding firms HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean are offering their expertise to help rebuild U.S. naval capacity. Hanwha Ocean has already acquired Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania and intends to invest $5 billion into the facility. However, the partnership faces legal challenges because U.S. law prohibits the Navy from purchasing foreign-built ships.

China responded to this cooperation by placing five U.S. subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean on its sanctions list. The strategic push for U.S.-Korea cooperation was previously advocated by the Hudson Institute to counter China's expanding naval power.