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The Trump administration will begin to impose fees on Chinese-built ships docking in US ports as it tries to spur US shipbuilding in a move likely to escalate trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The US presented plans in a filing late on Thursday to phase in steep charges on Chinese owned or built ships carrying cargo to US ports over several years.
The fees are part of an effort to increase the pressure on China over what Washington argues are unfair trade practices, while boosting the domestic manufacturing of ships. However, they have caused alarm among US exporters.
US farmers have expressed dismay that an overly-punitive fee structure would harm their ability to export goods by forcing ships to visit fewer American ports in an attempt to reduce the fees they have to pay.
Jamieson Greer, Donald Trump’s trade representative, said in a statement that the US would charge fees to vessel owners and operators from China of $50 per net ton beginning in 180 days, increasing by $30 per net ton over the following three years. Operators of Chinese-built ships would be charged a lower amount.
“Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce,” said Greer.
“The Trump administration’s actions will begin to reverse Chinese dominance, address threats to the US supply chain, and send a demand signal for US-built ships,” he said.
The US will also have “limited restrictions” on foreign vessels carrying liquefied natural gas, but restrictions would not begin for three years and would increase over a 22-year timeframe, Greer’s office said.
The fees would be based on the number of voyages to the US, and not applied for each port in the country visited on the same trip, reducing the risk that ships would skip smaller ports and harm US exporters.
The US trade representative’s office added that empty ships arriving to export goods from the country would not be charged.
