South Korean President Lee Jae Myung leaned on promises to “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” during his first official U.S. trip, as the two allies wrangle over other details of their trade and security agreements.
On Tuesday, Lee visited a shipyard owned by South Korea’s Hanwha Group to highlight investment plans, a day after he met with U.S. President Donald Trump for their summit.
Under a South Korean pledge to inject $350 billion into U.S. projects, shipbuilding has emerged as one of the most concrete areas of investment, with $150 billion earmarked for the sector.
“The project I proposed to President Trump to Make American Shipbuilding Great Again is not just a vision to build huge warships and state-of-the-art ships,” Lee said in a speech at the shipyard. “It is a grand vision to restore a dream that has disappeared.”
Trump says he wants to revitalise shipbuilding to keep up with China, the world’s biggest shipbuilder and operator of the world’s largest maritime fighting force.
The potential – and pitfalls – of that project were on display during Lee’s visit to the shipyard, one of the largest in the United States.
Hanwha, which acquired the facility last year, plans to spend $5 billion and install two additional docks and three quays to take its output from less than two vessels a year to up to 20, it said on Tuesday.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro told reporters after the shipyard tour that the Republican president’s tariff policies were making it harder for South Korean companies and raising prices for American consumers.
“Understand, we didn’t have to have this tariff fight. Donald Trump pushed that button, put the tariffs in place. He drove up consumer costs,” Shapiro said, adding “We want to grow our economy and attract more investment from Korea across all industries.”
Monday’s U.S.-South Korea summit did little to settle ongoing details of the two countries’ tariff deal, but Lee agreed to increase South Korea’s own defence expenditures and play a bigger role in responding to the changing political situation in the region, his office said, without elaborating.
South Korea’s industry ministry said 11 non-binding agreements were signed between U.S. and South Korean companies during Lee’s visit, in shipbuilding, nuclear energy, aerospace, gas and critical minerals.
In shipbuilding, HD Hyundai agreed with state-run Korea Development Bank and Cerberus Capital to create a multibillion-dollar joint investment fund aimed at strengthening the maritime capabilities of the U.S. and its allies, including shipbuilding, marine logistics infrastructure, and advanced marine technology.
Source: Reuters