US President Donald Trump is open to the idea of having US military ships built in South Korea, as revealed by a presidential official during a press conference in Ulaanbaatar. Trump had initially made this request to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their meetings at the Group of Seven summit in France and the NATO summit in Ankara. While Trump’s exact requirements for the ships remain unclear, discussions at the working level are expected to clarify the details.
South Korea’s major shipbuilders are now focusing on the US naval market due to Washington’s increasing interest in their shipbuilding capabilities. This shift aligns with Trump’s emphasis on revitalizing America’s shipbuilding industry and his search for reliable allies to support domestic capacity. The Pentagon and the US Navy have recently reached out to South Korean companies for information on their capacity to design and construct destroyers and medium-sized fleet replenishment ships.
The recent requests from the Pentagon and the US Navy to South Korean companies mark a significant development following last year’s agreement to allocate USD 150 billion for shipbuilding cooperation under South Korea’s Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) initiative. This move comes shortly after South Korea’s unsuccessful bid to secure Canada’s submarine replacement program, valued at up to 60 trillion won, highlighting the competitive nature of the global shipbuilding industry.
