https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/09/build-build-build-trumps-strategy-to-make-america-a-maritime-nation-once-again/
On Saturday, July 13, 2024, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, President Trump arose from being shot at by an assassin’s bullets with his right fist raised high in the air, exhorting the crowd and all of America to “fight, fight, fight.” That iconic image, which has been burned across the minds of all Americans, if not the world, was a prelude to another image that should be equally memorialized, which was his announcement during his address to the joint session of Congress on March 4 of the creation of the Office of Shipbuilding. In many ways this announcement hearkens back to Butler, but this time the refrain is “build, build, build”—build our Navy and shipbuilding industry—Make America a Maritime Nation once again.
The President’s announcement of the creation of the Office of Shipbuilding is a visible reflection of the existential threat that the PRC’s 30-year naval and maritime modernization program represents to America’s national security. Since the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait Crisis, where the U.S. dispatched U.S. Navy aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese Communist Party has been executing a maritime modernization program that has transformed the PLA Navy from a coastal defense force into the largest navy on the planet.
This transformation, and change in the balance of power, was empowered by the PRC’s dramatic investment in China’s shipbuilding industry. Reports from the Office of Naval Intelligence reveal that the PRC’s shipbuilding capacity is more than 200 times that of the U.S. President Trump’s announcement of this new Office of Shipbuilding, to be housed within the White House, is a much-needed solution to the past three decades of dereliction of duty to this critical national security industry.
The fact that this office will be housed within the White House is a testament to the importance, and attention to detail, that the President has given to this national security issue. While historical comparisons are never fully complete, this announcement takes on the same importance as the “Two Ocean Navy Act” that was led by Senator Carl Vinson in 1940, which provided the requisite preparations for the U.S. Navy to be equipped to fight and defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War Two after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Not only does this action provide critical support to America’s national defense, but it also provides Americans a new sector for new jobs. This truly is a “win-win” announcement.
Further proof of the President’s commitment to Making America a Maritime Nation came on 27 February during Secretary of the Navy nominee John Phelan’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Notably, Mr. Phelan stated, “If confirmed, my focus will be on three priorities: the health, welfare, and training of sailors and marines; strengthening naval capabilities, particularly shipbuilding in the defense industrial base; and fostering an adaptive, accountable, and innovative warfighter culture.”