South Korea’s government and its shipbuilders disagree over who should commit first under the $150 billion “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” (MASGA) initiative. The bilateral investment memorandum was signed in November 2025, nearly a year ago.
Lee Di-do, a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources official, told Korea JoongAng Daily that, “ultimately, companies must make their own investment decisions first.” He said the government would then assess resulting US projects on commercial grounds.
“The $150 billion is a figure that came out during negotiations. It was never broken down from the outset into specific commitments assigning each party a set amount to invest,” he added.
Industry sources told the newspaper that government funds should be in place before capacity is expanded to support large-scale ship production.