The White House has posted America’s Maritime Action Plan – a set of national policy initiatives aimed at rebuilding American ship construction capacity and growing the U.S. merchant fleet with vessels built in the U.S. and trading under U.S. registry.
America’s Maritime Action Plan (AMAP) includes four pillars, each containing objectives and directives that would affect the AMO membership, U.S. merchant fleet and the American shipbuilding industry. The complete plan is available on the White House website.
“It’s truly refreshing to see our government focus in on growing America’s Merchant Marine and reversing the decline in our shipping and shipbuilding capabilities over the years,” said AMO National President Willie Barrere. “AMO stands ready to work with President Trump and leaders in this administration to grow and support our U.S.-flag fleet and the jobs it sustains for American mariners. We’re looking forward to being a part of shaping the expansion of the maritime industry our nation needs as this plan is put into action.”
As they would affect American merchant mariners, AMAP includes, among other things, the following provisions.
1. Rebuild U.S. Shipbuilding Capacity and Capabilities:
- This initiative would establish a universal fee on foreign-built vessels from any nation entering U.S. ports. As foreign-built vessels benefit from U.S. market access, this policy would ensure they contribute to the long-term revitalization of America’s maritime capabilities. It would impose a universal infrastructure or security fee on all foreign-built commercial vessels calling at U.S. ports, to be assessed on the weight of the imported tonnage arriving on the vessel. A fee of $.01 per kilogram on foreign-built ships would yield roughly $66 billion in revenue over ten years, and a fee of $.25 per kilogram would yield close to $1.5 trillion in revenue. This revenue stream could be channeled into AMAP’s Maritime Security Trust Fund.
- This pillar would also seek to stimulate U.S.-flag growth and generate some cargo for an expanding American fleet. It would work to create market signals and streamlined processes, such as restructured operating subsidies, multi-year participation agreements, guaranteed cargo or procurement commitments, and a Strategic Commercial Fleet (SCF) procurement mechanism. Reliable revenue streams and targeted procurement commitments would encourage private investment in U.S.-built and U.S.-flagged commercial vessels.
2. Reform Workforce Education and Training:
- Proposes aligned and increased federal support for state maritime academies and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
- Recommends federal support for training required to earn a Merchant Mariner Credential.
- Includes a possible incentive program for actively sailing U.S. merchant mariners. This proposal was advanced by AMO and later endorsed by all U.S. mariner unions. Tax treatment of merchant mariner foreign earned income: “Permit the income a U.S. merchant mariner earns while employed on a U.S-flag vessel operating on an international route to be excluded from gross income under the Internal Revenue Code provisions that permit such an exclusion for U.S. citizens or residents living abroad.”
3. Protect the Maritime Industrial Base:
- Addresses the expansion of U.S. cargo preference requirements from current levels to generate more cargoes for U.S. merchant vessels in international trade.
- Recommends the establishment of a U.S. Maritime Preference Requirement for high-volume exporting nations to transport more cargo on qualifying U.S. vessels.
- Addresses the investigation of China’s targeting of maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors and the actions of the office the U.S. Trade Representative under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Should these actions and recommendations be implemented in some form in 2026, they would have a significant impact on the U.S.-flag fleet.
4. National Security, Economic Security, and Industrial Resilience:
- Seeks to markedly increase the fleet of U.S.-built and U.S.-flagged commercial vessels operating in international trades.
- Emphasizes funding the Maritime Security Program and Tanker Security Program fleets at authorized levels.
- Would prioritize the recapitalization of government-owned sealift vessels.