President Donald Trump is serious about shipbuilding. In July, he transferred the agency responsible for shipbuilding from the National Security Council to the White House.
Agency director Jerry Hendrix praised his superior’s deal-making skills when the Finnish-U.S. icebreaker deal was announced.
“President Trump’s mastery of negotiation skills was on display again,” Hendrix wrote. He suggested that the same model could be applied to U.S. warships.
The model for icebreakers is that the first four ships will be built in Finland, the next seven in the United States, where Finnish expertise will also be transferred.
”Don’t Give Up Our Shipyards”
Hunter Stires, strategic advisor to former President Joe Biden’s Secretary of the Navy, is very critical of the deal made with Finland.
“Trump’s deal may be remembered in retrospect as an example of the ‘art of the giveaway’,” Stires writes in Defence One, citing Trump’s best-selling book The Art of the Deal. “This will be especially true if he allows this precedent (the deal with Finland) to influence his upcoming talks in South Korea this week. Outsourcing warship production overseas is not the solution to the problems of U.S. shipbuilding.”
A similar deal is in the works with South Korea as with Finland. South Korea has also promised to invest in shipyards in the United States. In return, Trump will reduce the import duty levied on South Korea on some products from 25 percent to 15 percent.
”Shipyards Win Wars”
Stires uses history to support his criticism of shipyard deals. He recalls the Battle of Midway in the Pacific during World War II. Admiral Chester Nimitz took a calculated risk by attacking a stronger enemy.
“Nimitz was able to take the risk because he knew that American shipyards were just about to build a much stronger fleet than the one he might lose in battle. The United States could have made up for its losses, Japan could not. Ships win battles, shipyards win wars.”
A Deal With Finland Could Undermine Achievements
According to Stires, the ability to build ships in the United States’ own shipyards is more valuable than the short-term advantage of getting ships faster from abroad. Since the U.S.’s own shipyard industry is currently in decline, investments and expertise are certainly needed from abroad.
“The Finnish-Canadian Davie Shipbuilding announced its intention to buy a shipyard in Texas to bring its icebreaker expertise to the United States. This was achieved without the United States agreeing to build a single new ship abroad.”
According to him, President Trump’s decision to outsource the manufacture of icebreakers to Finland was a bad deal. Foreign shipyards should be “forced” to invest in the United States. They would receive orders from the Navy as an incentive.
“President Trump’s model (to order icebreakers from Finland) gives up this leverage almost for free. It could undermine the progress already made in strengthening our own shipyard industry.”
Stires points out that geography also favors building warships in the United States, since many of the allies’ shipyards are located in areas within reach of Chinese or Russian short-range missiles.
Source: Kauppalehti (in Finnish)
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