Largest US Shipbuilder Happy With Trump Tariffs

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – “We Buy and Build in America.” Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is the largest military shipbuilding company in the US. 

HII’s president expressed confidence that Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel will have little impact on his supply chain given the company’s reliance on buying and building domestically.

“We’re obviously a little different. We buy and build in America.”

“Ultimately, if tariffs bring more manufacturing into the United States and creates more jobs for manufacturing workers in the United States, I’m happy, because we need to broaden that base.”

“It’s clear that there’s demand for manufacturing talent in the United States right now, he added. “If we can expand that, that’s only positive.”

Most concerning for shipbuilders is a 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum. But Congress has enacted laws that require the U.S. Navy to “Buy American,” which limits the amount of foreign-made materials used in Navy ship building.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

Gen. Caine: US has lost electronic warfare skills, needs to enhance training, ranges. Over the 20 years of wars in “permissive [combat] environments,” the electronic warfare skills of the U.S. military have atrophied, requiring a new emphasis on EW training, the prospective chairman of the Joint Chiefs told lawmakers.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Drone shoot down authority sought by NORTHCOM boss. The general in charge of defending U.S. skies from drone incursions wants to be able to shoot down cartel drones flying near the Mexican border. Current law greatly restricts U.S. military counter-drone responses.

POLITICS

Trump’s new Deputy Defense Secretary issued a new memo directing DOD’s near-term implementation of Trump’s DOGE-inspired executive order to pare back federal agency regulations.

TRAITORS – A group of 4 Republican senators voted along with Democrats for a resolution to undo Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.

Trump’s tariffs: how might Europe respond to US trade war? Bloc’s options include retaliating with tariffs on US goods and services and forming closer ties with other countries.

PENTAGON WOKE WATCH

Pregnant Air Force pilots and aircrew will no longer be allowed to fly during their first trimester under revised flight rules that both restrict and loosen when they can fly.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Lithuanians filled the streets outside the US Embassy in Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius carrying wreaths and flags to grieve 4 US soldiers who died in training accident.

Defense contractor Anduril has rolled out a new, readily deployable undersea surveillance system called Seabed Sentry, which uses networks of small and relatively low-cost modular sensor nodes.

CHINA THREAT

Chinese military wraps up two days of intimidation drills off Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command vowed to maintain combat readiness and prevent any attempts of Taiwanese ‘independence.’

Philippine Armed Forces Chief tells troops of Northern Luzon Command to prepare for a Taiwan invasion contingency, citing the repatriation of citizens and the ‘inevitability’ of Manila’s involvement in a cross-strait conflict.

US needs a defense industrial mobilization board now! If US fails to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, or loses to China in a shooting war, it will likely be due to insufficient defense industrial capacity. US industry is operating in peacetime mode, while China’s is on a wartime footing.

We tried ‘fighting China’ with lower budgets. It didn’t go well. Congressional leaders expect the Trump team to release a ‘skinny budget’ later this month containing topline spending amounts for DOD. The choices made will set policy for the next four years.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

Russia is increasing the pace of attacks in eastern Ukraine ahead of a major new offensive designed to give it a better bargaining position in ongoing ceasefire talks. Still, Russia has reportedly seen a decrease in the amount of territory it has captured while Ukraine has made small gains.

The UK has called on its international partners to offer ‘real and credible security assurances’ to Ukraine, warning that a durable peace will only be possible if Russia is deterred from continuing its aggression.

Pete Hegseth will not attend a gathering of 50 countries to coordinate military support for Ukraine, the first time the coalition will gather without the US defense secretary participating.

Denmark’s naval modernization plan reflects threats from Russia (and US?!). An ambitious new naval plan aims to buy at least 26 new vessels and lays out short- and long-term roadmaps for the Royal Danish Navy and the Naval Home Guard.

IRAN THREAT/HOUTHIS/MIDEAST

US sends more of its most advanced F-35 fighters to Middle East as it continues to strike Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an Iran-backed terrorist group attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Israel craters runway to keep Turkey from taking over Syrian airfield. The attacks will make it harder for Ankara to deliver troops, air defenses and other equipment and to operate the facilities, should it attempt it.

Houthi link-up with Somalia’s al-Shabab could newly imperil Middle East shipping. Africa’s most lethal Islamist terrorist organization is expected to gain strength in Somalia, raising the security threat through a Middle East choke point.

Netanyahu visits Hungary as Orbán vows to defy ICC arrest warrant, marking the first time the Israeli prime minister has visited Europe since the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him over Gaza.

SPACE THREAT

AFWERX, the Air Force’s technology incubator’s new AI-powered tool will identify and track objects in low-Earth orbit, even as they maneuver and try to cloak themselves.

Slingshot Aerospace, a space data analytics company, has secured a contract from the Air Force’s AFWERX program to refine a technique for ‘fingerprinting’ satellites in orbit using photometric data and AI.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

A leaked draft letter from Somalia’s president to Trump offers US exclusive access to bases and ports and has reignited tensions between Somalia’s government and the breakaway region of Somaliland.

Greece will spend $27 billion over the next decade to adapt its military to evolving high-tech warfare technologies.

US MILITARY

The Army has scheduled a test of its Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, or LRHW, for December.

Smaller rockets to provide key artillery firepower boost sought by the Army. A new five-inch (127mm) artillery rocket Lockheed Martin is developing as a low-cost training round could evolve into an operational munition.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has begun a maintenance stint in drydock that will keep it from deployment for 17 months.

Air Force signals that a new AIM-120E variant of the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) may now be in development.

Boeing’s F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter may just be ‘Increment 1’ of the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) manned combat jet initiative.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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