The Sea Power Trident: China and the United States

China has the largest fleet of merchant ships owned and registered in the same country. More than a quarter of its a trade is carried in chinese own ships, and efforts are under way to increase that proportion substantially by acquiring new ships whether built at home or abroad. By contrast, only two % of us. Foreign trade is carried in ships built in the united states and flying the us. Flag,. thanks to ancient protectionist legislation intended to preserve ship building s. That number is unlikely to increase in the foreseeable future. And because of that trade, it can afford one.