HR 8615
Fleets now act
Fleets Now Act
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Bill overview
The Fleets Now Act aims to counter China’s unfair shipbuilding practices and bolster the United States’ maritime industrial capacity. It seeks to strengthen international cooperation, particularly with allies, to develop a framework for shipbuilding and ship maintenance, and to address the growing influence of Chinese shipbuilding companies. The bill also includes provisions for investigating Chinese shipbuilding practices, establishing an exchange program for experts, and designating a point of contact for international coordination.
Key provisions
- Designates an individual as the primary point of contact for international shipbuilding coordination.
- Establishes an exchange program for shipbuilding industry experts.
- Directs the Secretary of State to detail personnel to investigate unfair shipping practices in foreign countries.
- Requires the President to brief congressional committees on China Ocean Shipping Company Shipping Heavy Industry and China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
- Authorizes the Secretary of State to establish a Maritime Group of Nations to coordinate regulatory and commerce policies.
- Amends the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act to prioritize strategic ports.
- Directs the Assistant Secretary for Water, Environment, and Space Affairs to focus on maritime diplomacy and environmental quality.
- Calls for a review of the International Maritime Organization’s Net-Zero Framework to remove restrictions on existing fuel technologies.
Who is affected
Sponsors
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Primary sponsor
Cosponsors
Aumua Amata Coleman [R-AS-At Large] Radewagen
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119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
H. R. 8615
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To combat China’s unfair and non-market-oriented trade practices related to the shipbuilding industry, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Facilitating Leadership and Expertise through Exchange and Training in Shipbuilding Now Act of 2026 FLEETS Now Act
or the
.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Congress makes the following findings:
PRC) has deployed unfair and non-market-oriented practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors to achieve a long-term dominant position in the shipbuilding ecosystem. In response, the United States Trade Representative launched an investigation under title III of the Trade Act of 1974 in April 2024, and reaffirmed its allegations in a notice of proposed actions in February 2025.
The PRC’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy uses the opacity of China’s business ecosystem to channel commercial activities—including foreign shipbuilding orders—into upgrading its naval industrial base. By integrating commercial and military production at shared shipyards, the PRC enables the transfer of capital, technology, personnel, and supply chains to China’s defense industrial base, strengthening military capabilities through civilian contracts.
By achieving dominant market positions, the PRC exercises increasing influence over global supply, pricing, and access to goods and services.
The PRC’s targeting of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors creates dependencies on China, increasing risk and reducing supply chain resilience. The PRC seeks to displace foreign competitors throughout the maritime value chain in domestic and foreign markets, increasing the world’s dependence on the PRC for products, services, and technology.
International dependencies on the PRC increases risks (potential disruptions, whether natural, accidental, or politically motivated) for individual firms and their workers, for economic sectors, and supply chain resilience. The PRC has demonstrated its willingness to weaponize dependencies for the purpose of economic coercion.
The PRC’s control over Chinese economic actors in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors enables China to direct and influence commercial behavior in pursuit of market dominance in ways that run counter to fair competition and market-oriented principles.
The PRC’s industrial plans identify a matrix of mechanisms that are used to achieve market dominance, including government financial support, barriers for foreign firms, consolidation policies, measures associated with forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft, state-led investments, and government procurement.
As a result of the PRC’s market distortion, Chinese maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors accrue a wide range of non-market advantages, such as artificially low costs or preferential supply from China’s non-market excess capacity, including in steel, China’s lack of effective labor rights, and China’s control over digital logistics services.
The PRC’s direct intervention in the shipbuilding market makes ships built in the United States and elsewhere commercially less competitive. Less than one percent of new commercial ships are built in the United States and domestic shipbuilding is almost exclusively for military use.
In 2024, the PRC accounted for 53.3 percent of the global shipbuilding industry and the China State Shipbuilding Corporation built more commercial ships by tonnage in 2024 than the entire United States shipbuilding industry has built since the end of World War II.
The state-owned shipbuilding conglomerates like China Ocean Shipping Company Shipping Heavy Industry and China State Shipbuilding Corporation are China’s largest commercial shipbuilding corporations and the primary entities responsible for the buildup of the People’s Liberation Army Navy into the world’s largest navy enabling the PRC to increase its capacity to undermine United States national security interests.
The shipbuilding capacity of the United States has been weakened by decades of neglect, leading to a contraction of a once vibrant domestic maritime workforce while simultaneously empowering our adversaries, eroding United States national security, and reducing American jobs in the maritime sector.
Increasing domestic shipbuilding capacity is essential to restoring America’s maritime strength and self-sufficiency. This will require coordinated action across procurement policy, capital investment, supplier resilience, and workforce development.
According to America’s Maritime Action Plan from February 2026, the United States does not have the capacity necessary to scale up the domestic shipbuilding industry to the rate required to meet national priorities.
For decades, the United States strategic position and shipbuilding industrial capacity have been weakened, in part, by cumbersome Government procurement processes, a lack of strategic support for construction of commercial vessels in domestic shipyards, and the degradation of Federal financial investment in the Maritime Industrial Base.
Strengthening the United States maritime sector requires leveraging international and industry partnerships to align trade policies to enhance investment in the United States maritime sector. By creating clear pathways for foreign direct investments in United States shipyards, suppliers, and maritime infrastructure, the United States can expand domestic capacity while reinforcing relationships abroad.
Currently, foreign firms are severely disadvantaged in competing with the resources of the Chinese state, resulting in lost sales, under-investment in capacity, diminished ability to attract financing, and lost jobs and lower wages.
Foreign companies, including firms based in many United States-allied countries purchase 75 percent of the ships built at China’s dual-use shipyards, funneling billions of dollars in revenue and transferring key technologies into the People’s Liberation Army naval industrial base.
The United States does not have a single agency or department charged with designing and implementing industrial shipbuilding policy. As a result, there is no single official charged with protecting and expanding the domestic shipbuilding industry in the United States. This creates inefficiency in reinvigorating the United States shipbuilding industry and confusion when engaging international partners about joint strategies for diversifying shipbuilding supply chains.
The President’s Maritime Action Plan outlines a strategy for reclaiming America’s maritime strength, ensuring the Nation can defend its interests and ferry its trade. In implementing the Maritime Action Plan, the United States will modernize its procurement processes and streamline regulations to accelerate shipbuilding and reduce costs.
In this Act:
The term appropriate congressional committees means—
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
The term deck-plate professional means a skilled worker who operates directly on the production floor as a skilled tradesperson with specialized expertise related to a ship’s systems and functionality.
The term foreign country of concern has the meaning given the term covered nation in section 4872(f) of title 10, United States Code.
The Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development Act of 2018 is amended—
in section 1402(3) (22 U.S.C. 9601(3))—
by striking subparagraph (A); and
by redesignating subparagraphs (B) through (G) as subparagraphs (A) through (F), respectively; and
in section 1412(f) (22 U.S.C. 9612(f)), by adding at the end the following:
Harbors or ports (as such terms are defined in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153)) and related infrastructure.
the China Ocean Shipping Company Shipping Heavy Industry; or
the China State Shipbuilding Corporation; and
the business practices of such companies and entities.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 years, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that includes the following:
Any trading practices of any such entities that are subject to review by the United States Trade Representative for being unreasonable, discriminatory, or violating trade agreements.
the China Ocean Shipping Company Shipping Heavy Industry;
the China State Shipbuilding Corporation; and
the Chinese shipbuilding industry.
It is the policy of the United States to develop a domestic capacity to produce ships for both commercial and military application independent of supply chains that include materials sourced from the People’s Republic of China. Such policy shall be given effect, among other things, through a comprehensive effort, in coordination with allies and partners of the United States where appropriate, that includes—
relevant knowledge transfer to and skillset development of a shipbuilding labor force in the United States;
securing direct investment in United States shipyards by allies and partners; and
the development of a coherent long-term strategy to diversify shipbuilding supply chains and expand domestic shipbuilding capacity, incorporating all relevant Federal agencies and departments.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall designate an individual as the primary point of contact in the United States Government for purposes of—
attracting international shipbuilding investment opportunities in the United States;
leading cooperation with the governments of foreign countries on international shipbuilding supply chain diversification; and
Section 9 of the Department of State Appropriations Authorization Act of 1973 (22 U.S.C. 2655a) is amended to read as follows:
Developing United States policy on global environmental security issues with respect to oceans, fisheries, the Antarctic region, waste and global pollution, and water and other natural resource management and conservation.
Representing the Department in bilateral and multilateral negotiations involving the law of the sea, including—
freedom of navigation, overflight, and other lawful uses of the ocean;
maritime security;
United States maritime zones, including the United States extended continental shelf;
marine science;
the sustainable management and protection of marine habitats and resources;
marine pollution; and
maritime claims and boundaries.
Leading United States engagement on Antarctica and in international oceans agreements and conventions with foreign governments and international organizations, to promote solutions that advance United States national security, economic, and environmental interests.
Coordinating the development of policies and programs to conserve and manage economically important ecosystems, including, forests, wetlands, drylands, and coral reefs.
Developing policies and programs to address international threats to natural resources, such as illicit trade, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, wildlife trafficking, and illegal logging and associated trade.
Developing and implementing United States foreign policy related to air, water and soil pollution and risks to human health and the environment caused by the transboundary movement of hazardous chemicals and waste and other forms of pollution to promote environmental security, with trade partners and in multilateral institutions.
Representing the Department in bilateral and multilateral engagements including organizations, institutions, and negotiation of international agreements on related issues.
Developing policies and programs, in coordination with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Commerce, and other relevant Federal departments and agencies, as appropriate, to support partnerships between the United States and international and private industry partners in the development of infrastructure and policies that expand economic growth in outer space, including—
countering malign efforts by foreign adversaries and other actors that threaten United States interests in civil and commercial space; and
expanding access to foreign markets for United States commercial industry, including by encouraging reforms that reduce barriers to trade and cooperation with United States civil and commercial space actors.
Leading bilateral and multilateral engagements related to civil and commercial space activities, resilient space services, burden sharing, and other matters related to international space law and diplomacy and other United States international obligations and commitments.
Leading United States Government engagement with international Global Navigation Satellite Systems providers to ensure compatibility and encourage interoperability of civil global navigation satellite services on United States-based global positioning systems, including through the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems.
Leading Department efforts to implement international arrangements and promote cooperation on Earth observation satellite systems.
Leading Department engagement in multilateral and bilateral forums on international space policy, space law, and commercial and civil treaties or agreements.
Leading Department efforts on transparency in space by maintaining the official United States space object registry and promoting best practices for safe operations in space, preservation of the space environment, space traffic coordination, and space situational awareness.
Leading Department efforts to align foreign space law, regulatory, and policy frameworks with United States-endorsed models, approaches, and best practices.
At the direction of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs and the Secretary of State, represent the United States in international maritime diplomacy matters, including—
the creation and operation of the Allied Maritime Framework under section 206 of the FLEETS Now Act;
the development of the report under section 103; and
leading United States engagement in the Maritime Group of Nations under section 207 of the FLEETS Now Act.
Performing such other duties as the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs may from time to time designate.
Any subsequent appointment of an individual to the position of Assistant Secretary for Water, Environment, and Space Affairs shall be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
Section 102(b) of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2452(b)) is amended—
in paragraph (11), by striking and
at the end;
in paragraph (12), by striking the period and inserting ; and
; and
by inserting at the end the following:
unfair shipping practices, including price-fixing, market manipulation, or unreasonable refusal to deal;
specific actions by foreign governments to deny port of entry to United States-flagged vessels;
flags of convenience to determine if lower safety, labor, and environmental standards in foreign countries create unfavorable shipping conditions for United States trade;
anticompetitive agreements between ocean carriers and marine terminal operators for potential antitrust issues; and
open registry, allowing foreign-owned vessels to register under the flag of such country without a residency requirement (also known as a
flag of conveniencepolicy).
The country is among the top 15 countries globally with respect to not less than 2 of the following criteria:
Shipbuilding, as measured by tonnage as a percentage of global total.
Number of commercially owned ships greater than 1,000 gross weight tonnage.
Section 707(b) of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (22 U.S.C. 9903) is amended by inserting after paragraph (11) the following new paragraph:
Information about unfair business practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors in each applicable country or region, including—
price-fixing;
market manipulation;
anticompetitive agreements between ocean carriers and marine terminal operators.
and investments in maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectorsafter
allocation practices).
The President, acting through the individual designated pursuant to section 202 and in coordination with other relevant agencies and departments, shall engage allied countries to develop a shared framework to enhance collective capacity to design, produce, and maintain military and civilian ships, through—
enhancing information exchange between such countries regarding such design, production, and maintenance;
expanding procompetitive industrial collaboration with respect to such ships; and
strengthening the marine industries and the shipbuilding industries in allied countries.
The framework required in subsection (a) shall include—
the establishment of a mechanism to—
ensure countries participating in the framework can access reciprocal ports and shipping support during crises and conflicts;
co-develop best-in-class design principles for the construction of ships;
collaborate, on a reciprocal basis, on the construction, repair, interoperability, and other capabilities of new ships to reduce costs;
establish guiding principles for production line sequencing and supply chain management;
coordinate Cabinet or Minister-level recommendations to drive down the production costs of ships and accelerate the delivery of ships, consistent with relevant laws in the relevant countries;
establish a process for determining specific ship types or industry niches that are best suited for allied cooperation, including icebreakers, support ships, oilers, tankers, liquified natural gas carriers, undersea vessels, research vessels, and dual-fuel ships; and
develop a mechanism to incentivize financial investments from foreign sources and remove barriers to foreign direct investment in shipbuilding;
the establishment of a joint workforce-development program between participating shipyards and partner networks engaged in the production of ships for the purpose of training, information sharing, and the exchange of technical advisors;
the establishment of a mechanism to develop and share research and development and leverage innovation to promote sustainability and mutual benefit;
an agreement among countries participating in the framework to procure ships and ship components from shipyards identified by the participants as shipyards with specialized capabilities and experience in ship production; and
Maritime Group of Nations, to coordinate regulatory and commerce policies to facilitate a new maritime multimodalism for commercial shipping.
The country is of significant importance for the purposes of establishing and advancing the objectives of the Maritime Group of Nations, as determined by the Secretary of State.
The country additionally is among the top 15 countries globally with respect to at least two of the following criteria:
Shipbuilding, as measured by tonnage as a percentage of global total.
Number of commercially owned ships greater than 1,000 gross weight tonnage.
The Maritime Group of Nations established under subsection (a) may not include a foreign country of concern.
The Maritime Group of Nations established under subsection (a) should consider the following:
reduce dependency on adversarial supply chains.
The Secretary of State shall direct the United States Ambassador to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States mission to the United Nations to urge the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations, and the members of its Council, to—
revise the International Maritime Organization’s Net-Zero Framework, specifically to—
energy allapproach that does not restrict or constrain current or breakthrough fuel types;
remove any financial penalties, carbon taxes, or multilateral funds which are used to help nations decarbonize;
support an opt-in
model with respect to the rules of such organization; and
advance the candidacy of United States citizens into senior-level positions within the—
International Maritime Organization Assembly;
the Maritime Safety Committee;
the Marine Environment Protection Committee;
the Legal Committee;
the Technical Cooperation Committee;
the Facilitation Committee; and
any Sub-Committee;
industrial targeting);
de-link United States domestic environmental requirements from international certificates to reduce compliance friction for United States shipyards.