YOUNG OP-ED: US has surrendered the seas to China — here’s how to win them back
The following column by Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) was originally published by the New York Post on May 7, 2025.
By Senator Todd Young
A nation’s safety and prosperity depends on the strength of its ships.
Just ask Xi Jinping.
In addition to its powerful navy, China now possesses the world’s largest commercial fleet — 5,500 vessels strong, with a thousand more built annually.
And the United States?
Our fleet currently numbers 80 with, at most, five ships added a year.
The video player is currently playing an ad.
This convergence — the rise of China’s commercial shipping sector and the decline of ours — endangers our economy and weakens our Navy.
As President Theodore Roosevelt said in 1905, “To the spread of our trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war, a great and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable.”
The nation’s 26th president would be furious at the current state of America’s merchant fleet.
Our shipbuilding sector has eroded, our shipyards are few and far between, and the vessels they do build are often ill-equipped to cross oceans.
The result is Chinese dominance of the world’s sea lanes.
America’s rusted maritime sector is a pending national disaster.
But we now have another president who understands the importance of shipbuilding.
Last month President Donald Trump signaled his intent to end America’s shipbuilding decline when he signed an executive order encouraging private investment to raise new shipyards and ordering federal agencies to levy added fees on China’s vessels at US ports.
Trump wants to launch an American shipbuilding revival, and his urgent call to reinvigorate the US maritime sector was heard clearly in the halls of Congress at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Last week I joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to re-introduce the SHIPS for America Act, comprehensive legislation meant to revitalize US shipbuilding.
Our bill, which shares many of the same goals as Trump’s executive order, will provide the necessary congressional authorizations to build and man a new fleet of commercial ships — and bring back the American maritime industry.
This is long overdue.
In the decades after World War II, the United States was home to the world’s largest commercial fleet.
The shipping container, the revolutionary innovation that’s now essential to transporting goods across oceans and to distant markets, was invented by an American, Malcolm McLean.
But today only a fraction of the tankers and cargo ships carrying goods to and from our country fly the American flag — by some estimates less than 0.4%.
Depending on Chinese-flagged ships to carry the vast majority of our imports and exports places our entire supply chain at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party.
In a coming trade or military standoff, Xi Jinping could bring the American economy to a complete standstill — simply by prohibiting Chinese ships from calling in at American ports.
In the event of a military conflict in the Pacific, we would struggle to get troops and supplies to the front lines, and would have to rely on other nations to transport vital goods to our shores.
Without a robust commercial-shipyard industrial base, we lack the facilities and work force to build and repair warships at scale in a crisis.
The SHIPS for America Act aims to close this gap by establishing national oversight and consistent funding for US maritime policy.
It would make US-flagged vessels commercially competitive in international commerce by cutting red tape, rebuilding the shipyard industrial base, and expanding and strengthening mariner and shipyard worker recruitment.
Our proposal will train a pipeline of new workers, encourage domestic and foreign investment in maritime infrastructure and provide the permitting reform and deregulation that’s essential for timely construction of new shipyards.
One of its provisions will establish a trust fund to support an expansion of the US-flagged international fleet to 250 ships by 2035.
The act will also create an investment tax credit to build up the US shipyard industry for both military and commercial oceangoing vessels.
And a new US Center for Maritime Innovation would create hubs across the country where our citizens will research and design next-generation ships.
Reviving American shipbuilding will take time and come at a cost — but the cost of failing to act is even greater.
With his executive order, President Trump channeled Teddy Roosevelt and laid out an ambitious maritime agenda.
Now it’s up to Congress to make his vision a reality and christen a new commercial fleet that will reclaim American maritime supremacy.
It’s time to make American ships again.
Todd Young represents Indiana in the US Senate.