WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order asking the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration to coordinate with various stakeholders to create a Maritime Action Plan to revitalize U.S. maritime industries.
The Action Plan will provide a strategy with specific actions to restore and create sustained resiliency for the American maritime industry.
It will include key initiatives like revitalizing the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, incentivizing domestic shipbuilding, enhancing infrastructure and capacity, growing demand for U.S. shipping, investing in maritime technology, enhancing workforce development, and strengthening maritime security.
Until now, government procurement processes and over-regulation have hindered private industry's ability to build vessels on time and on budget. This Order will reverse that trend, according to the White House.
The Order directs the United States Trade Representative to make recommendations regarding China's anticompetitive actions within the shipbuilding industry.
It also directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to enforce collection of the Harbor Maintenance Fee and other charges on foreign cargo entering the United States to prevent circumvention via Canada or Mexico.
This will put an end to a longstanding unfair practice, ensuring all cargoes entering the United States are assessed for the proper applicable fees and generating additional revenue for investment into the maritime industry.
As per the order, the U.S. government will work with its allies and partners to align trade policies to disrupt China's non-market practices in the international supply chain and logistics sectors.
To ensure national economic security, the U.S. government will increase the fleet of commercial vessels trading internationally under U.S. flag as well as domestically between U.S. ports.
The Department of Transportation said under the Executive Order, MARAD will work with federal agencies to establish a financial incentives program with broad flexibility to invest in capitalization and construction of commercial vessels, shipyards and ship repair facilities.
It will work with federal agencies to create Maritime Opportunity Zones to incentivize and facilitate domestic and allies' investments in the U.S. maritime industrial and waterfront communities.
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