Trump turns to South Korea for answers on reviving ship building in U.S.

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The U.S. ally has made shipbuilding a key pillar of its trade talks with the Trump administration, pitching it as “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again” as the United States struggles to revive a faltering industry.

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Shipbuilding is a crucial economic and security issue for the U.S., which relies on ocean shipping for 80% of its international trade.

It also appears to be a particular passion for Trump, who talked about it multiple times last week during his three-country Asia tour.

“We’re not really building ships, and we’re going to start, and we’re going to have a very thriving shipbuilding industry,” he told executives last Wednesday in Gyeongju, South Korea.

That may be easier said than done, as the U.S. has fallen far behind the world’s top shipbuilders: China, South Korea and Japan.

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The U.S. military, which is required by law to build all its ships domestically, is facing its own crisis even as China rapidly builds out its own naval fleet.

“All of our programs are a mess, to be honest,” Navy Secretary John Phelan told lawmakers in June. “We are behind schedule and over budget. I think our best-performing one is six months late and 57% over budget.”

It wasn’t always like this.

The U.S. once dominated global shipbuilding, reaching its peak at the end of World War II before demand declined.

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