US President Donald Trump appears to be open to the idea of having American military vessels constructed in South Korea, a senior presidential official indicated on Thursday, 9 July, signalling a significant potential shift in US naval procurement strategy. The remarks were made at a press conference in Ulaanbaatar, where the official was accompanying South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on a three-day state visit to Mongolia.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told reporters: 'I have the impression that (Trump) does not rule out the possibility of having (them) built in South Korea.' The statement came in response to a question about Trump's recent request that Seoul take on the construction of US military ships.

How the Request Emerged

The shipbuilding discussion first surfaced when Trump raised the matter directly with President Lee Jae Myung during their meeting at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, last month. The topic resurfaced when the two leaders met again at a dinner on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit in Ankara earlier this week, underscoring the seriousness with which Washington is pursuing the idea.

The official cautioned, however, that the exact modalities remain undefined. 'Working-level discussions would be needed to flesh out the details,' the official noted, suggesting that any formal arrangement is still at an early stage.

South Korean Shipbuilders Eye US Naval Market

The diplomatic signals have already set South Korea's major shipbuilding companies into motion. Seoul's Make American Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA) initiative — part of a broader USD 350 billion South Korean investment package in the US — is gaining fresh momentum as Washington formally assesses Korean industrial capabilities.

The Pentagon and the US Navy recently issued requests for information (RFIs) to South Korean firms, seeking details on their ability to design and build destroyers. A separate RFI covering medium-sized fleet replenishment ships was also dispatched, according to industry sources. These are reportedly the first such formal outreach steps since last year's bilateral agreement allocating USD 150 billion specifically for shipbuilding cooperation under the MASGA framework.

Context: Canada Submarine Deal Falls Through

The development comes just days after South Korea failed to secure Canada's submarine replacement programme, which involved building up to 12 submarines valued at as much as 60 trillion won (approximately USD 39.87 billion), including maintenance and repair contracts. That setback makes the potential US naval shipbuilding partnership strategically significant for Seoul's defence industry ambitions.

Broader US Shipbuilding Push

Trump has made rebuilding America's domestic shipbuilding capacity a recurring policy theme, repeatedly calling on allied nations with proven naval construction capabilities to supplement what Washington can produce at home. South Korea — home to some of the world's largest and most technologically advanced shipyards — has emerged as a natural partner in that calculus. This is the first time, however, that a formal possibility of US military vessels being built on South Korean soil has been explicitly left on the table at the presidential level.

How the arrangement takes shape will depend on working-level negotiations between the two governments, with defence procurement, technology transfer, and cost-sharing frameworks all yet to be determined.