US seeks shipbuilding expertise from South Korea and Japan to counter China

[thought crime]

3. US shipbuilding has slowed down to a very expensive crawl.

Shipbuilding is a low-tech industry depending heavily on blue collar labor, so it faces the same pressure as other manufacturing in the US; foreign competition is cheaper. Most "blue collar" workers can get higher pay for less skill in the service industry. Potential welders know they will eventually be replaced by robots and can make more driving an Uber or a FedEx van. Or being a content provider, etc.

Shipbuilding for the Navy has a worse problem because the vessels must be built to specialized designs at a high standard. Features such as nuclear propulsion and deep and silent running for submarines make them extremely expensive. In addition, the Navy's civilian force, NAVSEA, has almost lost the ability to do good design work, due to the retirement of many experienced Naval Architects and engineers.

Duckworth and Kim have the right idea but I'm not sure Korean or Japanese firms could take over American shipbuilding companies and fix them, without truly massive investment in automation.

This is a test case for Trump's "plan" (wish) to rejuvenate American manufacturing. Does he talk the talk, or walk the walk? So far, it's business as usual.