WASHINGTON — Asian embassies in Washington scrambled to gather information on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to rebuild American shipbuilding capacity with the help of new tariff revenue, fines and fees.
The order, titled “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance,” seeks to reverse the decline of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which has shrunk to a fraction of China’s. Only 0.2% of the world’s ships are built by the U.S., compared with 74% built by China, according to an accompanying White House fact sheet.
