(April 2): The Trump administration’s plan to challenge China’s maritime dominance and usher through a change in the shipbuilding industry will likely be a decades-long effort, according to the chief of the Port of Los Angeles.

“This is a huge undertaking to shift the world’s balance with one policy,” Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director, said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. “To stand up a shipbuilding interest like that across the globe is going to take time. More than a decade, maybe decades.”

Washington has drawn up a plan to revive American shipbuilding through fees of at least US$1 million (RM4.45 million) each time a Chinese-operated or -built ship enters a US port, along with mandates for American vessels to transport the nation’s products. The recommendations have sparked alarm across the maritime supply chain about how they could snarl trade flows while fuelling inflation.

Separately, Seroka said inventory levels have climbed at the port as importers rushed to get goods into the US ahead of Trump’s vast rollout of tariffs, which could impact metals, agriculture and cars.

“We saw the beginning of this last summer, which would have been during election season, where some large companies started to front-load or advance their inventories into the US in the event this administration carried through with its promise on tariffs,” he said.

Uploaded by Arion Yeow