The port industry, the backbone of the U.S. economy, is in dire need of strategic reforms. After years of neglect under President Joe Biden, America’s new management has made that reform a priority.
Upon inauguration, President Donald Trump promised to revive the manufacturing industry, and he even reversed a Biden-era policy to reopen a major U.S. energy pipeline.
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Months later, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy penned an op-ed for the Washington Examiner stating that the Transportation Department would “facilitate overdue investments in our ports, boosting domestic production of both commercial and defense vessels, and expanding the fleet of mariners to command this new armada effectively, safeguarding the freedom of the seas.”
This couldn’t have come as better news to leaders of the American port industry.
Cary Davis, a former Trump administration official and the current CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities, told the Washington Examiner he’s “thrilled” to see Trump’s administration return to manage the industry. Under Biden, American ports underwent multiple supply chain crises, saw the closure of an American energy pipeline that made America “vulnerable” to its adversaries, and witnessed multiple taxpayer-funded grants being awarded to the net-zero carbon emission and sea level rise agenda.
“We are thrilled to see that the president has reopened the pipeline for America to export energy to all over the world,” the former senior adviser to the undersecretary of commerce for international trade said. “Under the previous administration, that was closed, which was counterproductive to America’s dominance and made us vulnerable to Russian energy.”
However, while America has made great strides, new challenges require new measures, and the industry must adopt new policies to stay prosperous.
“Trade volumes are remarkably persistent, even despite government policy and what the greater economy as a whole is doing. We are going to need to expand our capacities to sustain that demand,” Davis told the Washington Examiner.
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“That includes dredging harbors, expanding the capacities of the keys at the ports, larger and new and more efficient equipment that can move greater volume at a greater pace, port community systems or digital platforms that help the internal communications of the ports, and then intermodal roads in and out of the ports, like roads that will take truckers out of the highway and lessen the burden felt by the community around the ports,” Davis added.
Davis emphasized that adopting modern technologies, such as digitization, alternative ship fuels, advanced machinery, and state-of-the-art drone systems, is essential to strengthening America’s ability to export goods such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, weapons systems, and spacecraft. He also stressed that the federal government must dedicate funding to develop the infrastructure needed to make the nation’s ports more efficient.
“We realized we’re an integral hub at much larger supply chains. This plays out in a specific policy playground in the federal government. We advocate for the funding to the roads and infrastructure that run in and out of ports,” Davis said. “We also need more funding for drone and air commercial space, which would also benefit the supply chain revolving ports.”
Davis’s argument is compelling. Implementing these strategies would significantly strengthen America’s largest trading hub, bolstering national security, energizing the economy, reducing dependence on foreign adversaries, and reinforcing the nation’s geopolitical edge.
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By expanding the nation’s global presence through its ports, the United States can reduce its vulnerability to foreign adversaries and stay ahead of manufacturing competitors.
The industry expert’s remarks to the Washington Examiner make clear that if Trump is to fulfill his vision of an “American manufacturing renaissance,” his administration must follow through on the commitments made earlier this year.