The investment is real; the feud is political.

There is a certain awkwardness that settles over a celebration when the guest list becomes the story. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump traveled to Sparrows Point, Maryland, to herald a $3.7 billion investment in submarine manufacturing—a project expected to create thousands of jobs and revive a stretch of Baltimore County waterfront that has been quiet since the Bethlehem Steel mill closed in 2012 . It should have been a moment of shared purpose. Instead, it became a dispute over who was invited to speak, and who was not.

The investment comes from Anduril Industries, a defense technology company that plans to build a 2-million-square-foot “software-defined shipyard” called Arsenal-2 at Tradepoint Atlantic . The facility will manufacture components for Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines—beginning with torpedo tubes, then moving to larger modules and potentially full ship sections. The Navy has awarded Anduril a contract worth up to $2.9 billion, bringing the total announced investment to $6.6 billion . The project is expected to create 3,100 direct jobs and support more than 11,000 indirect jobs nationwide .

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat seeking reelection and considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, did not attend the event . His spokesman, Ammar Moussa, said Moore was blocked from speaking. A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Moore had been invited to attend—as a guest . The distinction, however narrow, became the flashpoint.

Moore nonetheless praised the project. In a statement, he said it could potentially create “the most jobs in Maryland in history” . “Governor Moore has always said he will work with anyone when it comes to delivering for Marylanders but bow to no one when it comes to standing up for them,” Moussa said . The governor’s office framed the dispute as a matter of respect, not opposition to the investment itself.

The event was part of a broader pattern. Trump has been holding events across the country to showcase factory investments as high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistent inflation have weighed on his economic approval ratings . Maryland is a solidly blue state, and the optics of a Republican president celebrating job creation alongside a Democratic governor—or without him—carried political weight for both men.

For Anduril, the project represents a significant expansion of its role in the submarine industrial base. Chris Brose, the company’s president, said the facility would take a “crawl, walk, run” approach, starting with critical components before moving to larger assemblies . The goal is to address production constraints that have limited the Navy’s ability to build submarines, which currently number 26 Virginia-class vessels with two more expected in the spring .

The dispute over speaking slots will fade, as such disputes often do. What will remain is a shipyard on a site that once built steel for a nation, now preparing to build components for submarines that will patrol the seas for decades. Whether the governor of Maryland was on stage or in the audience, the work will begin.

AI Image Disclaimer: The imagery used with this report is AI-generated and for illustrative purposes only.

Sources: The Canadian Press, U.S. News & World Report, The National Desk