Amid difficulties in follow-up discussions on U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations, the Korean government is set to establish a workforce training program promised during tariff talks to revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry. This marks the initiation of the “MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again)” project, a plan to modernize the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

According to the government on Sept. 21, the budget for the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding and Marine Industry Technology Cooperation Center project has been included in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s budget proposal for next year. The scale is 6.64 billion won, which passed through the Cabinet meeting on Aug. 29.

This budget allocation follows the MASGA proposal made by our government to the United States during the Korea-U.S. tariff negotiations concluded in July. At the time, our negotiation team presented a $350 billion investment package to the U.S. to lower the 25% reciprocal tariff that the U.S. had warned of. Of this, $150 billion was allocated to MASGA. As a result, the U.S. agreed to impose only a 15% reciprocal tariff on Korean products.

Under the Korea-U.S. Shipbuilding and Marine Industry Technology Cooperation Center project, the government has included the operation of a Masters Academy in next year’s budget, allocating more than half of the total budget, 3.45 billion won. Plans are in place to create and operate technical education programs related to shipbuilding, such as welding, through practical ship design education, yard production consulting, and dispatching expert-level professionals to the United States.

The goal is to produce 100 graduates through this program next year. It is reported that domestic large shipbuilders, including HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, will take a leading role in operating the Masters Academy.

The remaining budget of 2.14 billion won has been allocated for the operation of the Korea-U.S. Cooperation Center, which will oversee the U.S. shipbuilding workforce training program, and 86 million won for related trend analysis and local networking. An official from the Ministry of Industry explained, “This is to systematically respond to local demands related to shipbuilding cooperation with the United States and to establish a local base in the U.S. to support our companies’ investment and local expansion in the U.S.”
Source: Business Korea