President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon this week to open the door to building warships abroad and the creation of a fifth public shipyard on the Pacific coast.
The directive, issued Thursday, is aimed at increasing investments in U.S. shipbuilding in a way that would address chronic backlogs and cost overruns. But it’s raising eyebrows within the industry and among Virginia lawmakers about potential impacts to Hampton Roads’ economy.
Shipbuilders Council of America President Matthew Paxton urged the administration to reverse course on the decision, saying every ship built abroad takes jobs, demand and industrial capability with it.
“While foreign investment into the U.S.-based shipyards and facilities is lauded to reach the administration’s goals of revitalizing the shipyard industrial base, directing the Department of War to build overseas only undercuts the federal Maritime Action Plan and general investment into commercial and government shipbuilding,” Paxton said in a statement.
Nearly 31,000 people are employed in shipbuilding and repair in the region, according to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Newport News Shipbuilding, operated by Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the nation’s only designer, builder and refueler of Navy aircraft carriers and one of two U.S. shipyards that can build nuclear-powered submarines. The region is also home to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, one of four public naval yards, and a network of private repair firms, suppliers, and maritime training programs.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott’s 3rd District is home to Newport News Shipbuilding and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. He said any investments in naval production capacities should come to Virginia before anywhere else in the country or overseas.
“Rebuilding American shipbuilding means building ships in America, and we should not have to rely on foreign investments to maintain our national defense,” the Democrat said in a statement. “We should consider further investments in Norfolk Naval Shipyard before we consider a fifth Navy-owned public shipyard.”
Trump’s memorandum directs the secretaries of defense and Navy to produce a plan within 120 days to increase nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier readiness through the creation of a fifth public shipyard on the Pacific coast. It would be the first new Navy shipyard in more than 80 years.
Additionally, the order opens the door to waive a general prohibition on military shipbuilding in foreign countries and outsource shipbuilding work overseas, so long as foreign companies invest in domestic shipyards, hire American workers and establish a domestic supply chain. The policy shift follows an agreement made in October between the U.S. and Finland that allows for foreign production of icebreaker ships. Trump lifted the requirement the ships be domestically-built citing national security interests.
Applying the “Finland model” to military shipbuilding would allow a foreign supplier to build the first two vessels of a selected class, while later ships would have to be made in the U.S., according to the memo.
In the same memo, Trump ordered the Navy to revert to using steam catapults to launch fighter jets from aircraft carriers rather than the more advanced magnetically powered catapult system. That mandate would likely cost billions of dollars.
The move comes as a result of “an atrophied shipbuilding industrial base,” according to Trump’s memo, which cites complex designs and repetitive design change procedures as causing inflated costs, delays and cancellations across all shipyards.
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding has been at the heart of Trump’s plan to build a “golden fleet” of new and modernized carriers. Just last month, the Navy awarded the shipbuilder a historic $76.6 billion contract through fiscal year 2029 for the construction of Virginia Class submarines.
However, spiking costs and project delays have plagued the shipbuilding industry for years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visits with hundreds of HII employees in Newport News on Monday, January 5, 2026, afternoon. (Stephen M. Katz / The Virginian-Pilot)
Newport News Shipbuilding has three Ford-class aircraft carriers under construction to replace the Nimitz-class carriers. However, all three are taking roughly five years longer than expected and have all come in billions over budget.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Newport News Shipbuilding workers during a January visit that leadership would be held accountable for delivering ships on time and on budget.
HII spokesperson Danny Gonzalez declined to comment on the executive order or the company’s production capacity.
It’s no secret the Navy needs more building and maintenance capacity, or that local shipyards’ order books are full, said Robert McNab, director of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis.
He said Trump’s proposal is a reasonable idea that would take years to establish and potentially cut into the region’s business. But he said it’s too early too worry about economic impacts unless some of the ships docked in Hampton Roads begin leaving for the other side of the country.
“I think we would be much more concerned in the short-term if a carrier battle group, for example, left for the West Coast,” McNab said. “That would have a much more immediate impact and could happen much more quickly than a new shipyard being built and brought up to standard and starting to take business away from shipyards in Hampton Roads.”
Virginia congressional representatives agreed.
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, acknowledged the importance of increasing naval production in separate statements Friday, but both Democrats said they would each push for continued centralization of that work in Hampton Roads.
“We must boost our shipbuilding capacity, and I’m glad that the administration is prioritizing this and proposing new solutions to address production challenges,” Kaine wrote. “I’m confident that we’ll continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring our Navy and Marine Corps has the platforms they need to operate globally.”
“Before looking overseas or initiating planning for new infrastructure that’s many years away, we should be ensuring that we’re taking advantage of the capacity and industrial base expertise that already exists, certainly here in Virginia,” Warner said.
U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans said she encourages future investments in Hampton Roads, but said rebuilding the Navy requires rebuilding its industrial base, and investments anywhere will help bring more shipbuilding opportunities to the region.
“Last night’s announcement reinforces the urgency of growing our fleet,” Kiggans, a Republican representing the 2nd District, said in a statement Friday. “Expanding capacity on the West Coast should complement, not come at the expense of, continued investment in Hampton Roads, where the nation’s largest concentration of shipbuilding knowledge is firmly established.”
Rep. Rob Wittman said he understands the need for shipbuilders, Congress and the Navy to collaborate to deliver projects on time. However, he said he wants any decisions regarding potential shifts to go through Congress.
“I have concerns about shifting shipbuilding efforts overseas and any potential impacts to American workforces and supply chains,” Wittman, a Republican representing the 1st District, said in the statement. “Any approach we pursue should strengthen our domestic shipbuilding industrial base and receive appropriate congressional review and oversight.”
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com