The world's largest warship, US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, on its way out of the Oslofjord at Nesodden and Bygdoy, Norway, September 17, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/NTB/Lise Aserud)

Trump to make shipbuilding announcement as US looks to bolster Navy

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WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump will make an announcement on shipbuilding later on Monday (Dec 22), the White House said, as Washington seeks to strengthen naval capacity amid growing concern over China’s rapidly expanding fleet.

The announcement is scheduled for 4.30pm (2130 GMT) in Florida, where Trump is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan are expected to attend.

The White House did not provide details of the planned remarks.

NEW FRIGATE PLANS IN FOCUS

Trump’s announcement comes just days after the US Navy publicised plans for a new class of frigates, known as the FF(X), which it said would “complement the fleet’s larger, multi-mission warships”.

Phelan said the FF(X) design would be based on an existing vessel built by shipbuilder HII that is already in service with the US Coast Guard. The aim is for the first of the new frigates to be in the water by 2028.

The move follows a shake-up of earlier naval plans. In late November, Phelan said four of the six planned Constellation-class frigates would be cancelled, while two already under construction were placed “under review”.

“I will not spend a single taxpayer dollar unless it contributes directly to readiness and our ability to defeat future threats,” Phelan said at the time in a video posted on X.

A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. Taiwan said on Dec 5, 2025, that China had deployed warships for "military operations" stretching hundreds of kilometres from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea. (File photo: AFP/Ted Aljibe)

CHINA, VENEZUELA ADD TO STRATEGIC PRESSURE

US officials have warned that Washington has fallen well behind Beijing in terms of naval ship numbers. A report to Congress earlier this year said US military officials and analysts were expressing “concern or alarm” about the pace of China’s naval shipbuilding.

The renewed focus on shipbuilding also comes as the United States carries out a major military buildup in the Caribbean, including the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier. The show of force is widely seen as part of a pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

As part of that effort, US authorities have already seized two sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast. A White House official said over the weekend that US forces were also pursuing a third such vessel.

Source: AFP/fs

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