French shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé has pledged to invest $20bn in the US over the next four years, a major expansion in a sector that the Trump administration sees as increasingly strategic.
The investment by CMA CGM, the Marseille-based company run by Saadé, will include new vessels, air cargo and logistics bases. The billionaire announced the move in the Oval Office on Thursday, standing alongside President Donald Trump and a poster of the so-called Gulf of America, the administration’s new name for the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump said he was “thrilled” about the investment and asked Saadé about the possibility of building ships in the US, which CMA CGM’s boss said he was considering as part of a plan to add 20 vessels to the company’s fleet of 10 in the US.
“We are looking into shipbuilding of container vessels, and we will most likely be making an announcement in the coming weeks,” said Saadé, adding that the overall plan would add 10,000 jobs in the US, where CMA CGM currently employs 15,000 people. In response, Trump said the US “used to build a ship a day, and now we essentially don’t build ships”.
CMA CGM has been steadily growing its US operations, buying ports in Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey for about $5bn since 2021. The US now accounts for about a quarter of CMA CGM’s revenue.
Under the new US plan, Saadé said the company would spend $8bn on container ships and $7bn on logistics. It will also invest $4bn in ports and $1bn in air cargo.
Saadé is the latest business leader to make overtures to the Trump administration, which has sought to encourage companies to move production to the US and threatened to hit trading partners with tariffs.
Saadé attended events on the sidelines of Trump’s inauguration in January, and has been in talks with the White House about the investment and the sector.
Trump has signalled that he wants to revive US presence in a sector that is dominated by European companies such as Mediterranean Shipping Company and AP Møller-Maersk, as well as large Chinese groups. The US has not had its own major container shipping firm since Maersk bought the last one in the late 1990s.
Trump’s focus on regaining control over the Panama Canal and an idea to potentially tax containers from China through higher port fees have also shown his increasing focus on shipping as strategic for the US.
Saadé, who in 2017 took over the privately held group that his father built from scratch, has grown the company through acquisitions in recent years, to take advantage of booming demand from consumers shopping from home since the pandemic.
In France, Saadé is a close supporter of President Emmanuel Macron, accompanying him on state visits to the US and China in recent years, and hosting him at CMA CGM’s sprawling operation in Marseille during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.
Saadé has also been buying French media organisations such as 24-hour news channel BFM and La Tribune newspaper, following the practice of other billionaires, including LVMH owner Bernard Arnault and industrialist Vincent Bolloré.
CMA CGM’s business was resilient last year despite global turmoil such as the Houthi attacks on the Red Sea that forced shipping firms alter routes to Asia. Saadé said the outlook for this year was uncertain, with the possibility that tariffs could roil global trade.
CMA CGM reported 2024 net profit was up 36% year on year to reach $5.71bn on revenue of $55.5bn, up 17 per cent from 2023.
