Ground-Breaking U.S. Merchant Marine Executive Order Issued

On April 9, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled "Restoring America's Maritime Dominance." The EO directs a range executive actions – mainly executive reports to outline further action and to propose new legislation – all to promote the U.S. merchant marine including U.S. shipbuilding.

Although the EO does not acknowledge it, the United States has had a national merchant marine policy since the Merchant Marine Act, 1920. That Act stated, for the first time in U.S. law, that "it is necessary for the national defense and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine." The 1920 Act also rejected government- owned U.S.-flag vessels in favor of privately owned U.S.-flag vessels.