U.S. officials are working with foreign investors to identify weaknesses in domestic manufacturing supply chains and help small and medium-sized businesses expand capacity as investment in U.S. manufacturing increases, Reuters reported.
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Chris Pilkerton and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler told Reuters that President Donald Trump's tariffs on imports and efforts to reduce regulation were encouraging overseas companies to invest in U.S. manufacturing. However, officials said stronger investment would need to be matched by reliable access to components and suppliers.
Focus on Domestic Suppliers
The officials made the comments during a visit to the historic Philadelphia shipyard acquired by South Korea's Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Group in December 2024 following a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, which is led by Pilkerton.
Hanwha Philly Shipyard CEO David Kim told Reuters that the company has committed to investing $5 billion at the facility over the coming years. The investment could increase employment at the shipyard to about 10,000 workers from roughly 2,000 currently.
Hanwha has already invested more than $200 million to upgrade the shipyard's workforce, capabilities and production capacity.
The shipyard relies on more than 1,000 suppliers to build each large vessel, with roughly two-thirds currently based in the United States, Kim said at a separate news conference. That domestic supplier base could expand as the shipyard seeks to accelerate production and introduce artificial intelligence-based shipbuilding technologies already used in South Korea, Reuters reported.
New Program to Support Supply Chains
Pilkerton is using his previous experience as acting head of the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term to launch a new Strategic Vendor Program designed to strengthen domestic supply chains and support the long-term growth of foreign-invested companies in the United States.
The initiative remains in a pilot phase, and detailed guidelines on how suppliers will be selected have not yet been released.
Pilkerton also pointed to a recent visit to a quantum refrigeration company in Syracuse, New York, that was acquired by Finnish company Bluefors. Executives there highlighted difficulties in finding a U.S. supplier for dry compressors, underscoring the challenges foreign manufacturers can face when attempting to source components domestically, Reuters said.
Faster Foreign Investment Reviews
The Trump administration is also seeking to make CFIUS reviews of foreign investments faster and more transparent, Pilkerton said, according to Reuters.
The Treasury Department launched a new website in July to provide companies, investors and their legal advisers with more information about how CFIUS assesses potential foreign acquisitions and investments.
Treasury has also introduced a Known Investor Program to identify companies that have made repeated investments in the United States. The initiative is intended to accelerate future reviews after an initial comprehensive assessment.
SBA Funding for Manufacturers
Loeffler said the SBA provided about $3 billion in funding to manufacturers in 2025, including $32 million for shipbuilders, as the government seeks to rebuild U.S. industrial capacity, Reuters reported.
The funding comes against the backdrop of a long-term decline in American manufacturing, with the United States losing around 90,000 factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs over the past four to five decades, according to Loeffler.
As per a Reuters report, the administration's strategy combines tariffs, deregulation, foreign investment and support for domestic suppliers as it seeks to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity. The effectiveness of that approach will depend in part on whether smaller American manufacturers can scale quickly enough to meet demand generated by the new wave of investment.
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