The Trump administration announced new plans on Thursday Taxation on Chinese ships docking at US ports – Potentially escalating tensions in an ongoing trade dispute between the two largest economies of the world.
Under the proposal It was announced by the US Trade Representativecharges will be charged on all Chinese-owned or built vessels docking in American ports.
Taxation is assessed based on the amount of cargo transported on each voyage.
The measure follows a lengthy investigation launched under the Biden administration, which examined whether China’s dominant shipbuilding industry poses risks to American national security.
The proposed plan will affect not only Chinese vessels but also foreign-made vehicle carriers. A unit price equivalent to a vehicle per $150 Arrivals at US ports – unless they are built domestically.
Initial charges for Chinese vessels will be set at $50 per netton, a measure that reflects the ship’s available cargo space, and will gradually increase over three years.
Funds collected through these docking fees will directly support the US shipbuilding sector. This is a former dependent industry that has shifted primarily to naval construction due to reduced commercial demand.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jiang strongly criticized the measure, claiming that these new taxes would ultimately “harm the US and others.”
Lynn emphasized that such tariffs and fees on ports and freight processing facilities disrupt international supply chains without providing meaningful revitalization to the US maritime industry.
“Measures such as leviing freight rates or imposing tariffs at freight processing facilities will hurt the United States itself, just like everyone else,” Lynn said.
In particular, the current proposal differed significantly from the original version, sought to charge at least $1 million per ship per visit to the US port.
The revised structure is designed to alleviate concerns from shipping companies that are concerned about port congestion, rather than per port call, based on cargo volume per voyage.
The USTR includes an exemption to mitigate the impact, allowing shipping companies to avoid charges entirely for up to three years if they could prove they had ordered a new vessel built in the US.
Ships that arrive in the air to collect bulk cargo and those that move to the Caribbean or Great Lakes ports are also exempted.
The union of the US steel and shipbuilding industry praised the measure as a useful step to strengthening domestic transport capacity.
However, collection has sparked concern among American importers who rely heavily on Chinese ships to transport a wide range of goods from crude oil to consumer products.
Critics argue that the fees effectively represent additional tariffs on top of what has already been imposed by Trump, which could increase consumer costs.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), a ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, warned that the fee could have a negative impact on American farmers who rely on exporting their products.
At the hearing in March, opposition emphasized that the proposed measures would raise prices, disrupt trade flows and raise challenges for American ports.
They also expressed skepticism that fees alone could significantly undermine China’s substantial maritime control, which has been established over recent decades.
The secondary phase, which is scheduled to begin in three years, will introduce gradual restrictions over 22 years on foreign-built vessels transporting liquefied natural gas.
The United States is currently the world’s largest LNG exporter.
