The latest U.S. moves point to a broader strategy of tapping production capacity from trusted allies where American industry cannot immediately meet demand, while using tariffs, investment and procurement rules to steer strategic supply chains away from China.
For South Korea, that could mean access to markets that have long been difficult to enter, particularly U.S. naval shipbuilding and the fast-growing drone sector.
But the opportunities come with a costly catch: Korean shipbuilders will have to put substantial investment, technology and production capacity into the United States, while drone makers will have to sharply reduce their reliance on Chinese components if they want preferential treatment.
The shipbuilding sector offers the more immediate opening.
That structure could put South Korean shipbuilders in a favorable position.
The Pentagon and U.S. Navy have already tested Korean capabilities. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean responded to requests for information on combat vessels, while the two companies and Samsung Heavy Industries responded separately on medium-sized fleet replenishment ships.
Among them, Hanwha appears most directly positioned because it already owns Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Pennsylvania and has announced a $5 billion expansion program aimed at raising annual production from fewer than two vessels to as many as 20.
"Because Hanwha already has a yard in the United States, it has a relative advantage," said Woo Jong-hun, a professor of naval architecture and ocean engineering at Seoul National University.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries do not currently own U.S. yards, although both have been expanding partnerships with American shipbuilders.
Shipbuilding shares gained Friday, with Hanwha Ocean rising about 5.6 percent and Samsung Heavy Industries more modestly of 1.36 percent and HD Hyundai Industries of 3 percent.
Woo said the absence of a U.S. yard would not necessarily exclude other Korean companies if they eventually establish or acquire American production bases.
"The way I read it, the first two ships could be built in the company's home country, but to build the follow-on vessels in the United States, it would ultimately need to secure a U.S. shipyard, either by acquiring one or building one," he said.
He added that HD Hyundai could make an aggressive push for such opportunities, while Samsung Heavy Industries may face a disadvantage because of its more limited experience in naval shipbuilding.
Hanwha is already trying to deepen its position in the U.S. naval supply chain. The group has made a nonbinding preliminary offer valuing Austal USA at between $1.05 billion and $1.2 billion. The Alabama-based company builds ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and supplies modules for Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines.
Still, Korean shipbuilders would not have the field to themselves.
The White House framework applies to foreign suppliers generally rather than South Korea specifically, leaving Korean yards to compete with shipbuilders from Japan and Europe. Korea's advantage lies largely in scale, productivity and experience building complex vessels quickly and at competitive cost.
"Allied countries are not limited to Korea," Woo said. "There are Italian and other European shipyards that could compete, but Korea still has a relative advantage in areas such as productivity and cost, particularly for non-combat vessels."
A parallel shift is taking place in drones.
Trump on Thursday imposed new tariffs on imported unmanned aircraft systems and components after a Commerce Department investigation concluded that heavy dependence on foreign suppliers posed a national-security risk.
The measure imposes a 100 percent tariff on drones weighing more than 25 kilograms, drones with thermal-imaging capabilities and certain sensitive components. Smaller and less sensitive systems generally face a 25 percent rate.
South Korea, Japan, the European Union, Taiwan, Switzerland and Liechtenstein instead qualify for a 15 percent rate, while British products face 10 percent.
But the preferential rate carries an important condition: substantially all of a drone's hardware, software and technology must originate in the qualifying country or the United States. The tariffs take effect 21 days after signing, with some less sensitive components given a 180-day transition period.
That provision is particularly important for Korea.
The war with Iran has underscored the military importance of inexpensive unmanned systems.
U.S. Central Command launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Feb. 28 and listed LUCAS one-way attack drones among the systems deployed during the first 10 days of the campaign. Their combat use highlighted the Pentagon's growing interest in cheaper unmanned weapons that can be produced and deployed at scale.
That shift could give Korean drone makers an opening in a market where their presence has already begun to grow.
A Korea International Trade Association report showed that South Korea exported $27.54 million worth of drones in 2024, nearly 10 times the $2.81 million recorded in 2022. Yet Korea accounted for only 0.48 percent of global drone exports, ranking 20th worldwide.
"In the long term, localization of core components is essential," said Kim Mu-hyun, a senior researcher at KITA. "But the country's heavy reliance on Chinese imports is not simply due to a lack of technical capability, but stems from structural issues such as low profit margins, often linked to a focus on low-cost models for civilian use."
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology's 2025 drone-industry survey, Chinese-made components accounted for 45.3 percent of parts used by Korean drone companies, exceeding the 40.5 percent share for domestic components. Chinese products accounted for 55.3 percent of batteries.
That dependence now has a direct commercial consequence.
Korean manufacturers cannot necessarily gain preferential U.S. treatment simply by assembling Chinese components into a Korean-made drone. Washington's new rule explicitly ties the lower tariff to the origin of the underlying hardware, software and technology.
The opportunity therefore depends not just on replacing Chinese-branded finished drones, but on building a supply chain Washington is willing to regard as secure.
Taken together, the shipbuilding and drone measures illustrate an emerging form of ally-based U.S. industrial policy.
Washington is not simply trying to move production from China to South Korea. It is using allied industrial capacity as a bridge while seeking to expand production, technology and employment inside the United States.
The shipbuilding memorandum makes that logic unusually explicit. Foreign yards can temporarily build the first two ships, but they must invest in U.S. shipyards, train American workers, transfer shipbuilding technology and move subsequent construction to the United States.
The drone policy applies the same logic from the opposite direction: allied producers receive preferential access, but only when their products meet stringent origin requirements and reduce exposure to supply chains Washington regards as a security risk.
Neither opening is unconditional.
U.S. law under 10 U.S.C. §8679 generally bars Armed Forces vessels from being built in foreign shipyards. Trump's memorandum invokes the national-security waiver available under that law and delegates individual determinations to the secretary of war. Each qualifying contract must still be reported to Congress, and no contract can be made until 30 days after lawmakers receive that notification.
For Korean drone makers, the risk lies partly in the supply chain itself. Chinese components remain embedded in Korean production, meaning tighter Chinese export controls or other retaliation could increase costs just as U.S. policy creates new demand.
AJP Takeaways:
· Trump's new "Finland Model" creates a path for allied yards to build the first two U.S. vessels overseas, but only alongside major investment, technology transfer and subsequent production in America.
· Hanwha starts with an advantage because it already owns a U.S. shipyard and is pursuing Austal USA, while HD Hyundai and Samsung would need deeper U.S. production footprints.
· Korean drone makers could benefit from sharply higher U.S. tariffs on many imported drones, but the 15 percent Korean rate comes with strict hardware, software and technology origin requirements.
· Korea's dependence on Chinese drone components turns supply-chain localization from a long-term industrial goal into a near-term requirement for gaining from Washington's security-driven trade realignment.
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