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US President Donald Trump said he had approved plans for South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine in Philadelphia – praising Seoul as a “serious partner” in efforts to revive US shipbuilding – in a social post released just ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “South Korea will be building its nuclear-powered submarine in the Philadelphia shipyards,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Thursday morning. “I have given them approval to build a nuclear-powered submarine, rather than the old-fashioned and far less nimble diesel-powered submarines that they have now.” The comments came after South Korean President Lee Jae-myung asked for America’s help in obtaining nuclear fuel for the country’s submarine programme during a meeting with Trump on Wednesday in Seoul, where global leaders have gathered for this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum. Trump said the decision was based on the fact that America’s military alliance with South Korea was “stronger than ever before”. The timeline for the submarine project remains unclear. The announcement was the latest move by the United States to shore up ties with Asian allies in the shipbuilding sector – an area where America and China are locked in strategic competition, with both sides placing steep port fees on each other’s vessels – ahead of the Apec forum. Xi and Trump held talks on Thursday morning, their first in-person meeting since Trump’s return to the White House in January, as they sought to manage heightened tensions over a series of issues. The two leaders were widely expected to address the dispute over port fees during the meeting. Speaking at the Apec CEO Summit on Wednesday, Trump said the US and South Korea would join hands to revitalise the US shipbuilding industry, with the US leader blaming its recent decline on mismanagement by previous administrations. “Today we’re not really building ships,” he said. “We’re going to start, and we’re going to have a very thriving shipbuilding industry. And we’re working on it with South Korea, very much.” While speaking with a group of executives, Trump claimed the Philly Shipyard – which South Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha Ocean acquired in late 2024 – would become “one of the most successful yards in the world”. South Korea pledged to invest US$150 billion in an initiative dubbed “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” during trade talks with the US earlier this year. Seoul reiterated the commitment as the two sides agreed a fresh trade deal on Wednesday. The US also signed a shipbuilding cooperation agreement with Japan on Tuesday during Trump’s visit to the country. The two countries agreed to establish a Japan-US shipbuilding working group to foster cooperation in the shipbuilding and maritime sector, with the goals of expanding both sides’ shipbuilding capacity and facilitating investment in the US maritime industrial base. Trump has vowed to revive the nearly defunct US shipbuilding industry and curb China’s dominance in the sector since returning to office. The drive appears partly driven by security concerns, as shipbuilding is closely linked to naval capacity.
