Boost American Shipbuilding and the Power of the U.S. Navy

President-elect Trump’s incoming defense team will soon face a sobering fact: China’s navy is bigger than the U.S. Navy. “Our U.S. Navy shipbuilding is in a crisis, and the U.S. Navy is dramatically shrinking,” Senator Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska) has said. By 2027, the U.S. Navy may be down to 280 ships while China’s navy hits 400.

China’s navy “has been on a historic trajectory these last 25 years,” according to Admiral Samuel Paparo Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. “We are not overmatched, but I don’t like the pace of the trajectory.”