On July 31, the same day South Korea and the United States reached a tariff agreement, the National Assembly introduced a bill to support the “MASGA” initiative — short for “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” — aimed at advancing strategic shipbuilding cooperation between the two countries. Proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Un-ju and others, the legislation calls for the creation of a joint shipbuilding cooperation fund and the designation of special zones dedicated to producing and repairing U.S. naval vessels.
South Korea’s three largest shipbuilders — HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries — have agreed to explore detailed cooperation measures through a dedicated task force. They also plan to submit a joint industry position on the $150 billion shipbuilding fund. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and other government agencies have begun working on specific investment scenarios. The government is also reviewing plans to send retired master craftsmen and nationally certified experts to the United States to train shipbuilding workers, addressing America’s shortage of skilled labor, particularly in welding.
The public-private “race against time” to launch MASGA marks what would be an unprecedented overseas venture in South Korea’s manufacturing history. President Donald Trump has called for U.S. shipbuilding to begin “as quickly as possible,” spurring rapid coordination between government and industry.
The project’s origins date back to the administration of President Joe Biden. In February last year, then-U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro visited HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan and Hanwha Ocean’s shipyard in Geoje. “I’ve never seen such a digitalized shipbuilding system,” he said, expressing astonishment at South Korea’s ability to monitor production in real time during vessel construction.
Interest from Washington has only intensified since the transition from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. In November last year, while still president-elect, Trump told then-President Yoon Suk-yeol in a phone call that “America’s shipbuilding industry needs South Korea’s help.” Since the launch of Trump’s second administration, senior U.S. officials and high-ranking military leaders have made a steady stream of visits to South Korea. In April, Navy Secretary John Phelan became the first senior Trump administration official to tour a South Korean shipyard. “If the U.S. Navy works with such highly capable Korean shipyards, our vessels will deliver top performance,” he said, adding that he would “share this experience with President Trump.” On July 30 (local time), Phelan and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought toured Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia. Shortly after their visit, Trump announced the conclusion of the South Korea–U.S. tariff talks.
U.S. Navy leaders have voiced particular surprise at how South Korean shipyards can set precise delivery schedules from the contract stage and monitor construction progress in real time — processes considered routine in South Korea but nearly unthinkable in the United States, where the shipbuilding ecosystem has eroded. The productivity gap is stark. Over the past decade, South Korean shipyards built 2,405 commercial vessels, compared with just 37 in the United States. A South Korean-built Aegis destroyer costs about $600 million; the same vessel in the United States costs around $1.6 billion. South Korea can produce commercial ships, Aegis destroyers, and submarines in a single yard, while many U.S. yards struggle to build even one vessel a year.
The South Korean negotiating team was able to leverage the MASGA project in the tariff talks thanks to extensive exchanges that began well before Trump’s inauguration. Working-level officials at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy had developed cooperation plans and even coined the name “MASGA,” which they proposed to the negotiation team. On Aug.3, Presidential chief of staff for policy Kim Yong-bum, said on KBS’s Sunday Diagnosis program, “Frankly, without shipbuilding, the talks would have gone nowhere. We presented concrete proposals on maintenance, repairs, and workforce training programs. The U.S. side was astonished at how extensively we had prepared, which is why shipbuilding became the linchpin.”
For Washington, MASGA serves two primary objectives: restoring the competitiveness of the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry and enhancing the Navy’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capabilities. The plan is to revive America’s long-neglected shipbuilding capacity and maritime workforce while meeting the Navy’s growing MRO demands as vessels are retired faster than they can be built.
South Korean shipbuilders have operated overseas yards since the 2000s, but MASGA presents a far greater challenge. It will require constructing or upgrading local shipyards, training personnel, and transplanting the entire supply chain — effectively delivering “A to Z” in U.S. shipbuilding.
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