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times more shipbuilding capacity than the United States, port and logistics policies, (d) control of upstream markets, according to the Of? ce of Naval Intelligence.” That is a and (e) intellectual property theft.

startling number that should concern any U.S. maritime The petition has strong Congressional support, with Rep. stakeholder. The Congressional Guidance speci? cally cited Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8), Ranking Member of the to the fact that Chinese shipyards received over 1,700 orders House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Be- in 2023, employing a workforce of over 600,000, while U.S. tween the United States and the Chinese Communist Party shipyards received less than ? ve orders during the same pe- (CCP), immediately releasing a statement providing, “Given riod, employing less than 153,000 workers. the strategic importance of commercial shipbuilding to our

Among other strategic objectives, the uni? ed Congres- economic and national security, dependence on the CCP sional group seeks to: creates a vulnerability that undermines our maritime capa- • Invest and innovate in domestic shipbuilding and bilities. We need to shore up our critical maritime supply U.S.-? ag shipping capabilities and capacity to chains and ramp up our domestic manufacturing capacity to advance the power and in? uence of America’s build resilience. The Biden Administration has been a leader maritime industry. in supporting domestic manufacturing and U.S. workers. I • Leverage existing, unused authorities to speed the encourage the Of? ce of the United States Trade Representa- ? ow of taxpayer resources towards U.S.-? ag tive to launch a new investigation to uncover how the CCP shipping and domestic commercial shipbuilding. has negatively impacted the U.S. commercial shipbuilding • Encourage public outreach to demonstrate how industry and how we can create more jobs in this critical sec- American shipbuilding and U.S.-? ag shipping tor here in the United States.” Other Congressional members are critical to national security, and that maritime called for the USTR to immediately initiate an investigation workers are essential. under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, including Sena- • Attract private investment into U.S.-? ag shipping tors Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Bob Casey (D-PA).

and domestic shipbuilding while restricting cash The demands from Congress have clearly been heard as ? ow into the PRC’s maritime shipping and the White House announced on April 17 that the USTR shipbuilding industries. is taking up the labor unions’ petition, initiating a Section • To implement these strategies, Sens. Kelly and 301 investigation into the PRC’s unfair trade practices. In Rubio and Reps. Waltz and Garamendi have called announcing the investigation, Ambassador Katherine Tai upon Congress to provide the authorities and stated, “The petition presents serious and concerning alle- funding necessary to support domestic shipbuilding gations of the PRC’s longstanding efforts to dominate the and to explore treaty ally collaboration to expand maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, cataloguing domestic shipbuilding opportunities and insource the PRC’s use of unfair, non-market policies and practices capabilities to the U.S. market. to achieve those.” Further, “The allegations re? ect what

These Congressional members are not alone in voicing we have already seen across other sectors, where the PRC their concerns on the relative state of the U.S. and PRC ship- utilizes a wide range of non-market policies and practices building industries. On March 12, 2024, a collective group to undermine fair competition and dominate the market, of labor unions ? led a petition with the U.S. Trade Represen- both in China and globally. I pledge to undertake a full tative (USTR) regarding the PRC’s policies in the maritime, and thorough investigation into the unions’ concerns.” logistics, and shipbuilding sector. In the petition, the unions In the background of these actions, the Maritime Ad- assert that the “American commercial shipbuilding industry ministration (MARAD) remains focused on developing the is a shell of its former self” now producing “only a fraction National Maritime Strategy, working with the Center for of one percent of the world’s commercial vessels, falling to Naval Analyses. We understand that MARAD is aiming to 19th place” worldwide. As the petition asserts, “The biggest have a draft of the strategy developed by the end of the year, obstacle to the industry’s recovery is the unfair trade practices with ? nal publication to occur in 2025. Undoubtedly, the of the world’s largest shipbuilding nation: China.” The peti- strategy will focus heavily on building the U.S. shipbuilding tion argues that numerous strategic discriminatory actions industrial base to counteract PRC in? uence. When coupled by the PRC over the past 25 years have led to Chinese domi- with the actions of Sens. Kelly and Rubio and Reps. Waltz nation in the shipbuilding industry, including, (a) directed and Garamendi, and the pending USTR investigation, it mergers and anticompetitive actions, (b) over $91 billion of appears that many in Washington are ? nally ready to make direct government intervention (often through state-owned the investment necessary to reestablish the U.S. as a com- banks), (c) preferences for Chinese-owned vessels through petitive force in the international shipbuilding market.

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