By: Staff Writer
April 18, 2025
The Trump administration eases port fees for Chinese ships headed for the Caribbean, Great Lakes and other US territories.
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) significantly watered down original plans from February, under which vessels built in China would be charged $3.5m (£2.6m) each time they docked at a US port. The US and China are locked in a trade war.
Those proposals prompted a backlash from US domestic industries, which warned the port charges would increase prices for American consumers, and sent a wave of concern through the global shipping industry.
The USTR said it would start charging port fees in 180 days, and they would rise incrementally over the coming years.
Under the new rules, Chinese-linked ships will be charged fees linked to the weight of their cargo or the number of containers on board, rather than according to how many US ports they call at.
Caribbean business leaders and other officials testified to a USTR hearing where they pleaded to have the port fees waived for them.
“Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “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.”
After over 500 comments made to the USTR’s website opposing the China port-fee plan, the Trump administration has backed off.
President of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Private Sector Organization (CPSO) Dr. Patrick Antoine, in his request to appear before the USTR, told the US trade body the imposition of these fees could be “devastating” for CARICOM countries, given that they would drive the cost of goods being moved out of US ports into the Caribbean to “astronomical” levels.
“Indeed, the social and economic ramifications of any such measures by the United States is unthinkable,” Antoine said.
He added: “The CPSO also recognizes the immediate jeopardy which any measure as may be under consideration by the USTR, will hold for CARICOM member states, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname, among others, where well over 50 percent of the ships plying these routes are Chinese constructed.
“If afforded the opportunity to give testimony at the hearing, the CARICOM Private Sector Organization will present evidence on the significant economic impact of the proposed measure, which will also bring damage to US firms with operations in the Caribbean.”
Still, the fees on Chinese-built ships add another irritant to swiftly rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies as President Donald Trump seeks to draw China into talks on his new tariffs of 145% on many of its goods.
The revisions tackle major concerns voiced in a tsunami of opposition from the global maritime industry, including domestic port and vessel operators as well as U.S. shippers of everything from coal and corn to bananas and cement.
They grant some requested carve-outs, while phasing in fees that reflect the fact U.S. shipbuilders, which turn out about five vessels annually, will need years to compete with China’s output of more than 1,700 a year.
The USTR exempted ships that ferry goods between domestic ports as well as from those ports to Caribbean islands and U.S. territories. Both American and Canadian vessels that call at Great Lakes ports have also won a reprieve.
As a result, companies such as U.S.-based carriers Matson and Seaboard Marine would dodge the fees. Also exempt are empty ships arriving at U.S. ports to load up with exports such as wheat and soybeans.
Foreign roll-on/roll-off auto carriers, known as ro-ros, are eligible for refunds of fees if they order or take delivery of a U.S.-built vessel of equivalent capacity in the next three years.
The USTR set a long timeline for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. They are required to move 1% of U.S. LNG exports on U.S.-built, operated and flagged vessels within four years. That percentage would rise to 4 percent by 2035 and to 15 percent by 2047.
The agency, which will implement the levies in 180 days, also declined to impose fees based on the percentage of Chinese-built ships in a fleet or on prospective orders of Chinese ships, as originally proposed.