Trump’s sweeping changes wash across maritime

Among sweeping changes brought in by the new Donald Trump administration, a new chairman of regulator, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), has been announced while Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan has been ousted with her deputy appointed in an acting role. In 2022, Fagan became the first woman to lead a branch of the US military. 

Former shipbroker Lou Sola, who has been a commissioner at the FMC since 2019, takes over from Daniel Maffei as chairman of the shipping regulator. 

“There are many ways the commission contributes to the competitiveness of American businesses, access to foreign markets for US vessels and companies, and economic growth for the nation. We will continue that important work while looking for more instances where applying the authorities of the commission helps US companies and consumers,” Sola said.

Trump returned to the White House on Monday for a final four-year term, wasting little time to sign a swathe of executive orders. 

Wresting back control of the Panama Canal, renaming the Gulf of Mexico and exiting from the Paris Agreement were three of the shipping takeaways in the first hours following the inauguration of Donald Trump yesterday as the 47th president of the United States, while he also directed the Treasury Department to freeze new offshore wind leases on the country’s outer continental shelf.

Yesterday, he told reporters he is considering imposing a 10% tariff on imports of Chinese-made goods as soon as February.