Perhaps the biggest news to emerge from President Donald Trump’s 2025 visit to East Asia was his announcement in late October that South Korea and the United States would jointly construct nuclear attack submarines in Philadelphia. However, in the weeks that followed, it became clear this shipbuilding cooperation will not be realized.
Before the Thanksgiving holiday, I visited not only South Korea but also Japan and China, partly with the aim of assessing whether the agreement between Seoul and Washington makes sense. I walked away thinking U.S. strategists should carefully consider the risks and realities of the proposed partnership.
There is much to like in the initiative. The Biden administration prioritized cooperation on nuclear submarines with Australia and the United Kingdom through AUKUS. While that agreement is still very far from delivering tangible assets, it has withstood the test of time—AUKUS might prove to be a useful hedge against Chinese naval ambitions.
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