Trump reveals surprise American taxpayer stake in new $6.6B submarine deal

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the federal government will own 40 percent of a new Baltimore-area shipyard meant to speed up construction of Virginia-class attack submarines, giving the public a direct ownership position in a $6.6 billion project. Speaking in Sparrows Point, Maryland, he called the holding the clearest sign of Washington's commitment to the yard's lasting success, according to Fox News.

According to Anduril, the stake would sit in a newly formed subsidiary running the Arsenal-2 shipyard, not in the defense technology firm itself. Anduril plans to put up $3.7 billion of its own money for the facility and its manufacturing capacity, while the Navy could spend as much as $2.9 billion buying the submarines it turns out. What rights the government gets, what it contributes in return and how taxpayers might eventually see a payoff have not been made public. Fox News Digital is seeking answers from the company and the White House.

The effort responds to worries that America trails China in shipbuilding capacity and that the Navy is behind on its submarine production goal. The administration has previously taken equity positions in Intel, MP Materials and other firms it views as strategically important to national security.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Fox News’s reporting. Read the full story at Fox News →