US President Donald Trump has issued a memorandum authorizing foreign shipbuilders to construct US Navy vessels overseas, attempting to clear severe domestic production backlogs and accelerate fleet expansion.
US President Donald Trump has issued a memorandum authorizing foreign shipbuilders to construct US Navy vessels overseas, attempting to clear severe domestic production backlogs and accelerate fleet expansion.
The directive leverages the "Finland Model,” initially used for the US Coast Guard’s icebreaker procurement, for up to three ship classes.
Under the strategy, qualified foreign contractors would build the first two vessels abroad for faster handover, provided they launch or acquire an American shipyard, transfer technology, establish US supply chains, and simultaneously build all remaining hulls locally using an American workforce.
The framework targets light surface combatants equipped for anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, and convoy escorts, as well as cargo replenishment tankers and sealift vessels.
Ignoring ‘America First’
The move faced immediate bipartisan pushback in the US Congress. Maine Representative Jared Golden successfully added a provision into the House-passed fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act prohibiting funds for foreign-built battle force ships.
"I don’t know how we’re supposed to take any soaring ‘America-first’ language from this administration seriously when it appears to be bound and determined to send American shipbuilding jobs overseas," Golden stated.
The industry also criticized the order, with Shipbuilders Council of America President Matthew Paxton saying that “directing the Department of War to build overseas only undercuts the federal Maritime Action Plan and generational investment into commercial and government shipbuilding.”
“Every hull built abroad is demand, jobs, and industrial capability diverted from American shipyards this Administration pledged to rebuild,” Paxton said.
“We remain committed to working with the Department of War, [Maritime Administration], and Congress to keep federal shipbuilding dollars strengthening — not bypassing — the domestic maritime industrial base.”
Alongside the warship production overhaul, the memorandum also mandates establishing a fifth public naval shipyard for submarine and aircraft carrier sustainment, reforming the Naval Sea Systems Command, and replacing electromagnetic launch capability with traditional steam systems on the upcoming Gerald R. Ford-class carriers.
