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

▲ U.S. President Donald Trump (C) responds to a question from the news media during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on April 10, 2025 in this photo released by EPA. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

Trump-shipbuilding

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

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Yonhap) -- 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 over China having a shipbuilding capacity overwhelmingly greater than 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 Advisor 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.

Explaining his phone conversation with South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo earlier this week, Trump said the two sides discussed the shipbuilding industry among other issues.

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