The new fees are aimed at countering China’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry, but critics say they will simply raise prices for American consumers.
President Trump on Thursday moved forward with new rules aimed at undermining China’s strength in commercial shipping, but the measures were softened after ocean carriers and importers said the regulations could push up the cost of shipping.
Chinese shipping companies and many owners of Chinese-built ships will now have to pay fees when they dock at U.S. ports. But under the more lenient version of the rules, the biggest shipping companies will most likely pay significantly less and smaller ones will be exempt.
The Trump administration said the measures were necessary because China had used unfair trade practices like subsidies to become dominant in shipbuilding. The rules also aim to foster the growth of the American shipbuilding industry, which has withered in recent decades. The rules give shipping lines refunds on their fees if they buy American-made ships in the next few years.
“The Trump administration’s actions will begin to reverse Chinese dominance, address threats to the U.S. supply chain and send a demand signal for U.S.-built ships,” Jamieson Greer, the head of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which formulated the rules, said in statement.
The new rules originated from a petition filed during the Biden administration by a collection of unions, including the United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO, that requested an investigation into Chinese shipbuilding. The Biden administration carried out the investigation and issued a finding shortly before Mr. Trump took office in January. That finding said China had displaced foreign firms in the shipbuilding sector and unfairly hurt U.S. commerce.
David McCall, the president of the United Steelworkers, said the government’s “thorough investigation validated our charges, and today’s announcement lays out a series of strong steps to restore U.S. shipbuilding capacity.”