President Trump announced Thursday that shipping giant CMA CGM will spend $20 billion in the United States to help revitalize the U.S. shipping industry.
The money will go toward building out shipping logistics, infrastructure and terminals, which the president said would create about 10,000 jobs. He made the announcement in the Oval Office alongside company CEO Rodolphe Saade.
“It’s so important because it’s about shipping,” Mr. Trump said. “You know, we lost our way for many years. We haven’t done anything. We used to build a ship a day.”
He said a “massive new program” to build large ships will be announced in the coming weeks. He said in his address to Congress Tuesday that a new White House office of shipbuilding will be created and that tax incentives will be given to the companies that build in the U.S.
“To boost our defense industrial base, we are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday evening as he gave his address to a joint session of Congress.
Mr. Saade said his company is “very enthusiastic about this big announcement.”
He said CMA CGM wants to start investing in the building of container ships and that an announcement will be made “in the coming weeks.”
He also said the company wants to increase its U.S.-flagged ships from 10 to 30. The company currently operates in 40 states and employs 15,000 U.S. workers.
