US officials work to close supply chain gaps as foreign investment grows

[PHILADELPHIA] US officials on Monday (Aug 10) said they are working closely with foreign investors to identify gaps in the US manufacturing supply chain and to help small- and medium-sized businesses scale up to meet rising demand as foreign investments surge.

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Chris Pilkerton and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler told Reuters that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports and deregulation were fuelling foreign investments in manufacturing, but it was critical to ensure components were also available.

The two officials spoke during a visit to a historic Philadelphia shipyard acquired by Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Group in December 2024 after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), which Pilkerton leads.

David Kim, CEO of Hanwha Philly Shipyard, told Reuters his company had pledged to invest US$5 billion at the facility in the coming years, which could boost jobs at the site to 10,000 from around 2,000 now. It has already invested more than US$200 million to upgrade the shipyard’s workforce, capabilities and capacity.

The company relies on over 1,000 suppliers for each massive ship it builds, he told a separate news conference, about two-thirds of which were US-based. That number could grow in coming years as the site works to accelerate production and adopt AI-based shipbuilding technologies already used in South Korea.

Pilkerton, who served as acting SBA administrator during the last year of Trump’s first term, said he drew on that experience in launching a new “Strategic Vendor Programme” that is aimed at strengthening domestic supply chains and supporting the long-term success of foreign-invested businesses in the US.

The programme is still in a pilot phase, with no detailed guidance issued on how vendors will be identified.

He said he paid a similar visit to a quantum refrigeration company acquired by Bluefors, a Finnish company, in Syracuse, New York, where executives said they had been unable to find a domestic supplier for dry compressors.

“It’s one thing to speak about supply chains at a high level. I think everybody wants it, but you know, you need to find the parts,” he said.

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The Trump administration was also trying to make reviews of foreign investments by the CFIUS more transparent and quicker, Pilkerton said. Treasury in July launched a new website to help companies, investors and their attorneys better understand how the panel evaluates potential foreign acquisitions and investments.

It has also created a “Known Investor Programme” to identify and clear companies that invested frequently in order to speed up reviews after an initial deep dive, he said.

Loeffler said the SBA provided in 2025 some US$3 billion in funding for manufacturers, including US$32 million for shipbuilders, to help them rebuild their capacities, after the loss of some 90,000 factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs over the last four or five decades. REUTERS