President Donald Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum has raised expectations that South Korean shipbuilders could help accelerate U.S. naval construction by allowing qualifying foreign builders to construct up to two U.S.-bound vessels at home-country yards while investing in American shipyards. Hanwha is viewed as the clearest near-term beneficiary because it acquired Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia in 2024, announced an additional $5 billion investment plan last year, and is expanding local facilities and hiring as part of the South Korea-U.S. Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, or MASGA, cooperation project. The memorandum covers surface combatants, oilers for at-sea resupply and roll-on/roll-off ships, but limits overseas construction to an initial run of two vessels before any follow-on work shifts to U.S. yards through local supply chains. The move uses a national security exemption to a longstanding U.S. ban on building warships abroad, though actual orders may depend on Congress after the House passed a National Defense Authorization Act amendment restricting Navy funds for foreign-built combat ships and the Senate Armed Services Committee prepared a draft that would remove the president's exemption authority.