The levies could hit virtually every ship calling at U.S. ports, foist up to $30 billion of annual costs on American consumers and double the cost of shipping U.S. exports,

This story has been updated to correct the background of a member of the White House’s new shipbuilding office. The Trump administration wants a sweeping government-wide overhaul of the U.S. commercial and military maritime sectors in an effort to catch up to China’s unrivaled shipbuilding capacity,

While President Donald Trump made many assurances during his marathon speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, likely no comment caused ears in Tidewater to perk up like his comment about shipbuilding.

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries were sailing higher after President Donald Trump announced plans for the shipbuilding industry in his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. Shares of shipbuilder Huntington gained 11% to $190.

Trump’s administration aims to pay for an American shipbuilding comeback with help from potentially hefty port fees on Chinese-built vessels as well as ships from fleets with Ch