Trump says U.S. may buy ‘top-of-the-line’ ships from ‘close’ countries

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States may purchase advanced ships from “close” countries, as he reaffirmed his commitment to rebuilding America’s shipbuilding industry.

Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting as the shipbuilding industry has emerged as a key area of cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. amid concerns that China’s shipbuilding capacity has overwhelmingly grown compared with that of the U.S.

“We are going to be rebuilding our shipbuilding business. We may order … would have to go to Congress for this, but we may buy some ships from other countries that we’re close to and that do great jobs with ships, but we’re going to start the process of rebuilding,” Trump said.

“We don’t really essentially build ships anymore, which is ridiculous. It’s going to be a very big business for us in the not-too-distant future, but in the meantime, we have countries that do very well at building ships, and we’ll be dealing with those countries, and we may be ordering top-of-the-line ships from those countries,” he added.

Trump made the remarks after National Security Adviser Mike Waltz noted that Chinese shipyards received 1,700 shipbuilding orders last year, whereas American shipyards got only five.

“Under your leadership, like so many other industries, we are going to revitalize and make shipbuilding and maritime (industry) great again,” Waltz said.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong met Ian Bennitt, senior director for maritime and industrial capacity at the White House, to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral shipbuilding cooperation, according to Cho’s office.

During a phone call Tuesday, Trump and South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo discussed cooperation in the shipbuilding industry.