United States Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (pictured) made remarks on Tuesday that point to the US possibly considering establishing shipbuilding cooperation with Japan and South Korea, Yonhap reported.
"So there are opportunities, I think, that we can pursue and we need to keep open-minded about those opportunities so that we can actually increase the production rates of our ships and aircraft," he said, referring to the possibility of a joint shipbuilding venture with South Korea and Japan, adding that he was "impressed" by how much the two countries have invested in their own shipyards.
"Luckily, we have allies in Japan and Korea who also have invested heavily in the commercial shipbuilding side of the house," he said after expressing that the US "conceded" its commercial shipbuilding capability to China.