To rebuild the American naval fleet, Congress must create demand for American ships

Through his executive order “to restore America’s marine domination” last month, President Trump appeared to be alarm: Our nation will either rebuild its fleet of commercial charging now or drifting to dependence on foreign ships, most of whom fly the Chinese flag.

The executive order of a marine work plan calls for a dangerous agenda by many agencies to revive Merchant Marin, but the meaning of the meaning will require Congress to progress and do its work. This begins with creating the real and continuous demand for shipping.

I grew up in Mobile, ALA. It is a port of a port with the marine industry in its blood. My father was working as a commercial freedom, and I had the honor to represent an area with one of the largest shipbuilding basins in the country. I have seen closely how important the marine industry of our economic and national security alike.

I have also seen what decades of negligence have done to make an industry one day. I grew up, I was in awe of the loud waterfront with huge shipping ships of all types that attract stars and stripes that fly boldly from their science, and homes are among the greatest cities in the country drawn on the back.

Today, less than 1.6 percent of US imports and exports move on the US ships. The rest is transferred by foreign -owned fleets, and is often secured by our strategic opponents. China’s shipbuilding basins are now building 74 percent of the world’s ships-0.2 percent. If this contrast does not keep you awake at night, then he must.

Without a strong local shipping fleet, America is economically and weakly dependent on a strategic point of view.

Ships that are implemented in the United States are required to support national defense in times of war or emergency, as they did for the decisive influence in many conflicts in the history of our nation. In the crisis, if our supply chain depends on a fleet that we do not control, we are not a marine power – we are a client state.

The executive order of President Trump is targeting the right to organizational networks that eroded the construction of American ships, but it is possible to fill the other half of the equation: ensuring that American ships have a shipment. Without a steady demand for their services, new rust ships will be left in the port.

I will present three simple ideas to help achieve this goal.

First, you should double the tax deduction for companies that ship America. Today, American companies can deduct 100 percent of shipping costs, whether they are used in the United States or foreign. But foreign ships usually operate at a lower cost, thanks to the less bright labor, safety and tax systems.

Double the current opponent to 200 percent of the goods that have been transferred to American ships would wipe this gap at the price. It is a simple and voluntary incentive that, according to some estimates, can enhance the demand by about 20 percent and support the addition of nearly twenty ships to the fleet.

Next, Congress should order 100 percent of the goods funded by the taxpayer on the US ships that the United States raises whenever possible. This rule is already in the Ministry of Defense, but most civilian agencies are still operating under 50 percent condition for the use of American ships.

There is no logical basis for this contradiction. If taxpayers are advancing on a bill, charging should support American workers, American ships and American security. This would make a big difference since the United States government is one of the largest trucks in the country.

Finally, we must expect more American companies. Every week, I see ads promoting the company’s “American purchase” values. But when will the same companies adhere to “American shipping?”

Congress can jump this trend by encouraging the formation of the American ship’s alliance – an alliance of importers and exporters ready to adhere to more goods to American ships. Even a 10 percent shift from Amazon, Walmart and John Deree will have a meaningful effect on the demand for the fleet, and they can benefit from the same national brand they use to sell American -made goods.

Combating, these ideas offer a practical and practical way to generate shipping sizes that will maintain an expanded American fleet. They are not just an appeal to nostalgia for marine romance but rather an economic and strategic necessity. America cannot be the leading economic power in the world if we do not have our own ships – and use them.

I know from the personal experience that our country does not lack talent or resources to build ships; We just lack the market incentives to justify the investment.

President Trump has taken the biggest step in decades to end the collective indifference that led to our maritime decline. But unless the Congress continues the real reforms to create the demand, the marine action plan will remain merely a plan.

Jerry Karl is an American politician and businessman like the first Congress in Alabama from 2021 to 2025.