Make America Great, Secure, and Maritime Again
10th September 2025
Repealing the Jones Act would be an obvious first start.
Imagine Detroit reborn: small, modular nuclear reactors power a humming, cutting-edge shipbuilding industry along with a range of factories connected by air, sea, and land, as advanced drones ferry cargo between them. This revived manufacturing hub employs someone from nearly every extended family, and the abundant clean energy fueling it in turn underpins high-quality education, healthcare, and public transport services for residents. Detroit leads the reindustrialization of the U.S. economy, amplifying manufacturing independence, resilience, and national security.
This future is within reach; the raw material exists to support many more maritime boomtowns, combining new logistics modes with living well on America’s ocean coasts and the Great Lakes and rivers irrigating the Midwest. Executing a strategy to achieve this potential starts with identifying which aspects of business as usual must evolve.
Moving cargo on the water is by far the most efficient means of transportation and accounts for 80 percent of global trade. But the United States can’t use its abundant coastlines and rivers to reinvigorate domestic supply chains—or, if necessary, to sustain a wartime economy—largely because it makes and crews so few commercial ships. Last year, the United States delivered zero, while China delivered over 900. This deficit poses a massive and growing risk to national competitiveness and security.