Despite Trump's overtures, U.S. Congress keeps Korea locked out of warship market 

Despite the Donald Trump administration's efforts to outsource warship construction to foreign shipyards, U.S. lawmakers are instead drawing a firm line against strong outside involvement, dimming prospects for Korean shipbuilders who remain locked out of the core U.S. naval market.

Congress recently rejected a Pentagon request to allocate $1.85 billion in the fiscal year 2027 budget for the Golden Fleet program, funding that would have opened the door for shipyards in allied nations such as Korea and Japan to build U.S. combatant ships. The request reflected an approach the administration has pursued since Trump publicly prioritized the restoration of the nation's maritime capabilities.

The White House has continued to signal its intent to tap foreign shipyards to design and build U.S. warships, but the Pentagon and Congress remain at odds over the extent of foreign participation. Congress's rejection comes just as Korean President Lee Jae Myung revealed that U.S. President Trump had personally asked him whether Korea could quickly build 10 U.S. warships, to which Lee said he replied it was "certainly possible" and that he would "do his best" should such a request be made.

Lee made the remarks Friday during a briefing on his European trip that covered his attendance at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, where he and Trump spoke for roughly two hours during the official dinner in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Wednesday.

The Pentagon has argued that allies such as Korea and Japan could build advanced surface combatants, including frigates and destroyers, at a fraction of domestic cost. Congress, however, views the construction of front-line vessels as a core sovereign capability that should remain in U.S. hands.

The original proposal, put forward by the Navy under its "Advanced Shipbuilding Industrial Base and Future Ship Experimental" program, would have allocated part of the Pentagon's $1.5 trillion budget toward efforts to "attract more shipbuilding capacity into domestic shipyards and bring additional ships into the fleet — including studies of the ability of allied shipbuilding companies to build ships or components."

Congressional committees have since blocked that proposal. The Senate Armed Services Committee's markup of the defense policy bill for the fiscal year 2027 would strip the president's existing waiver authority under Title 10, Section 8679 of the U.S. Code, which currently allows the president to approve offshore ship construction for national security reasons. In its place, the committee's draft would let the defense secretary approve construction of up to two vessels per class at allied foreign shipyards, limited to two categories: bulk fuel vessels and roll-on/roll-off ships. The defense secretary would also be required to certify, with supporting evidence, that such construction serves U.S. national security interests.

The committee further attached a string of conditions Congress must sign off on before any such deal can proceed, requiring proof that the arrangement is a national security necessity and that it is faster than domestic construction or otherwise offers a clear advantage for military readiness.

Domestic experts remain skeptical that Korean shipbuilders will see this opportunity materialize anytime soon. With the Pentagon and Congress locked in a tug-of-war over the issue, observers say the legislature is unlikely to budge, intent on protecting its domestic maritime work force and what it sees as sovereign capability threatened by foreign entry.

"Under current U.S. law, foreign participation simply isn't allowed," said Yang Jong-seo, a senior researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea's Overseas Economic Research Institute, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. "To make it happen, they'd need bridge legislation that temporarily exempts them from the Byrnes-Tollefson Amendment, or it might be possible through an executive order — but no one knows for certain whether that's legally viable. Those kinds of measures would need to be in place, but there seems to be no real effort being made toward that right now."

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]