U.S. President Donald Trump declared cooperation with Korea's shipbuilding industry to build the U.S. Navy's next-generation warships. The plan is for Hanwha to invest $5 billion (about 7.4 trillion won) in a U.S. shipyard to revive a decayed shipbuilding hub and, through that, restore the Navy's command of the seas.
President Donald Trump said at a press conference on the 22nd (local time) at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that Hanwha will join the U.S. Navy's new frigate program. Trump introduced Hanwha as "a very excellent company" and said it has agreed to make a $5 billion investment in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The decision is seen as a key outcome of the Make American Shipbuilding Great Again initiative discussed at this year's Korea-U.S. summit.
The Trump administration's Navy rebuilding strategy centers on building the Golden Fleet. Trump put forward a Trump-class battleship, named after himself, as the fleet's mainstay. The first ship was named USS Defiant. Designed to replace the existing Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the warship is set to be a giant vessel with a displacement of about 30,000 tons. That is much larger than the Navy's current destroyers. It aims to be a platform capable of mounting future-oriented firepower such as electromagnetic railguns and laser weapons.
Hanwha will serve as a bridgehead in strengthening U.S. naval power based on the acquired Philly shipyard. Trump praised Hanwha's investment, saying that a great shipyard that had been closed in the past is operating again to work with the U.S. Navy and private corporations. The White House plans to narrow the gap with China in shipbuilding output and create shipbuilding jobs in the United States through this project. To that end, it will also roll out bold support measures, including creating a new shipbuilding state that offers tax benefits.
Experts, however, are split over the utility of the Trump-class battleship. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, emphasized, "To safely protect aircraft carriers and secure long-range strike capability, ships two to three times larger than current destroyers are essential."
By contrast, Mark Montgomery, senior Director General at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said, "A battleship that costs more than $5 billion per hull is not an option optimized for modern naval warfare," and criticized it as "a plan reflecting the president's visual preferences more than tactical usefulness."
In addition to the new battleship, the U.S. Navy is also pushing a frigate program that upgrades Coast Guard vessels. The plan also includes procuring up to 50 support ships. That is raising expectations that Korean shipbuilders, including Hanwha Ocean, could win additional orders for this volume. Trump, pointing to the aging and appearance issues of U.S. warships, said, "We will fill the seas not with rusty, worn-out ships, but with beautiful and powerful warships."
The press conference drew a large turnout of key national security officials from the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, lending momentum to the Golden Fleet project. Experts predicted that starting next year, when Hanwha begins its large-scale investment, the Korea-U.S. alliance will move faster to seize leadership in the global shipbuilding market.