Last year, the world’s second-largest manufacturing nation accounted for just 0.04% of global commercial shipbuilding output.
This meager performance isn’t a case of the free market run amok. Quite the opposite. The Jones Act — descended from shipping laws dating back to the 1800s — mandates that ships carrying goods between U.S. ports must be built here at home. This guaranteed, captive market was supposed to ensure robust U.S. shipbuilding. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Our shipyards now trail not only giants like China but even small countries such as the Netherlands and Finland in output.
The few ships built in the U.S. are often five times costlier than their foreign counterparts. Instead of strength, Jones Act protectionism has produced little shipbuilding and a stunning lack of competitiveness.
No one should be surprised that an industry shielded from competition struggles to compete in the international marketplace. Increased tariffs on steel and other vital inputs, meanwhile, only put this withered industry further on its back foot. Before writing another check to U.S. shipbuilders as Hasse advocates, Congress should stop sabotaging them with tariffs and outdated protectionist laws.