If you’ve ever been to the D.C. metro stops near the Pentagon, you’ll see huge posters from defense contractors promising that they offer solutions like “littoral dominance.” Most of us have never heard of that, but we’ve all benefited from it.
For the last 80 years, the U.S. has boasted littoral dominance across the entire world — that means we have military control of coastal regions, which is essential not just for protection but for international trade. Whoever controls the waters controls trade. When littoral dominance is in doubt, nations fight for control or pirates attack legitimate business — this is what Iran is doing with its attacks on Arab tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Now imagine a world where America doesn’t rule the waves, and that kind of conflict will be everywhere.
So it’s in the interest of every nation on Earth to maintain the maritime status quo. But no one else pays for it, and the benevolent littoral dominance we provide is not cheap. This is what’s so delusional about people who criticize the president’s tariffs and yearn for “free trade.” There’s no such thing as free trade. Our Navy’s 2025 budget was about $204 billion, and probably by design, his tariffs were projected to boost federal tax revenues by about $206 billion.
Even then, the entire world benefits from the generosity of the U.S. taxpayer and the service of our sailors. Everybody, even the Somalian pirate from the meme who said in the "Captain Phillips" movie, “Navy good. They protect us.”
The nation that has benefited the most from free trade American-taxpayer-subsidized trade is China, which has been able to become a “trade titan” by leveraging its size, artificially depressed currency, and slave labor. But China’s unique economy cannot sustain itself. It is able to sell to the world because its labor force is impoverished … but that labor force is unable to buy its own stuff.
China needs trade, and to survive it needs America to keep generously providing it. But in the unmatchable arrogance of the Han Chinese mindset, they need to be No. 1 — because they haven’t figured out yet that they’re lucky to be No. 2. But regardless …
China Wants to Challenge Us for Control of the Oceans
A new shipyard in Qingdao is now operational. Groundbreaking on the Weichai’s yacht base started in February 2022, and the final pontoon berths were finished this year. Dubbed by some as “Beijing’s Trojan Yacht,” the new base will boost their shipbuilding capacity. Weichai is wholly owned by Shandong Heavy Industry Group, which answers to China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration (SASAC), the Chinese state-owned asset management commission.
The base is a co-venture with Italian shipbuilding company Ferretti, which is now 40 percent owned by the Chinese. Though that doesn’t make them majority shareholders, it was enough to seize eight of the nine board seats in May.
Now the term “yacht” implies simple leisure craft, but the goal of this base is to start churning out military vessels. Even before that happens, China’s corporate espionage means that they will have access to every connected Ferretti vessel — its engine telemetry, satellite communications traffic, and other user data.
Now that may not seem like such a big deal — all that data is nothing compared to what Meta and Google know about us. But under China’s National Intelligence Law, any Chinese company must hand over the data it holds to Chinese state intelligence on demand.
Italy’s former Chief of Defense Staff General Vincenzo Camporini stated:
“Potentially hundreds of top-of-the-line Italian vessels, often owned by top Western business figures, are thus sharing their data with a group that answers to Beijing. There’s no need for espionage scenarios: the product’s standard digital architecture is sufficient.”
Now, in the long run, China probably won’t be able to take over the world, regardless of its naval assets. No power in history has ever been able to rule the waves like America, and probably no power ever could going forward. But that doesn’t mean China can’t cause a lot of problems for everyone before they learn that lesson the hard way. China would be better off just drafting behind us, but its leaders are too arrogant to be satisfied with the status quo. Western companies like Ferretti need to stop doing business with the Chinese tiger before we get bitten.
Jared Whitley is a longtime D.C. politico, having worked in the U.S. Senate, White House, and defense industry. He has an MBA from Hult Business School in Dubai. This year, the Society of Professional Journalists named him among the best columnists in the Intermountain West.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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