China Hits US Ships With Extra Port Fees as Trade Tensions Rise

Chinese officials have announced tit-fot-tat port fees that will be imposed on US vessels that carry cargo to the mainland.

The news, announced by China’s transport minister on Friday, follows the Trump Administration announcement in April that it would hike fees on Chinese vessels that dock in the United States.

Vessels owned or operated by US firms and individuals – or those built in the United States or that fly the US flag – will be charged additional port fees per voyage starting next Tuesday (October 14), China’s transport ministry said.

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The fees were a counter-measure against upcoming US port fees on Chinese ships, the ministry admitted on Friday.

Also starting on October 14, ships built in China – or operated or owned by Chinese entities – will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States. Fees could top $1 million for a ship carrying more than 10,000 containers, and could rise annually through till 2028, according to analyst estimates.

Vessels owned or operated by a Chinese entity will face a flat fee of $80 per net tonnage per voyage to the US.

US fees aim to blunt Chinese shipping

The US fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the US Trade Representative (USTR), are part of a broader US effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and blunt China’s naval and commercial shipping power.

“It is clearly discriminatory and severely damages the legitimate interests of China’s shipping industry, seriously disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermines the international economic and trade order,” the Chinese ministry said.

Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the No. 1 position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.

China also owns or leases an extensive network of ports through companies such as COSCO and other state-controlled enterprises like China Merchants and SIPG in Shanghai.

A report published last year by the Council of Foreign Relations, a US think-tank, said China had investments in 129 port projects worldwide through various companies, as of August 2024.

US vessels face $56-a-tonne fee

The Chinese fees on US vessels could hurt the US less than the US fees to be heaped on the legion of Chinese ships.

Last year, Chinese shipyards built more than 1,000 commercial vessels, while the US constructed fewer than 10, according to military and industry analysts.

For US vessels berthing at Chinese ports from October 14, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net tonne, the Chinese transport ministry said.

That will increase to 640 yuan ($89.81) from April 17, 2026, and to 880 yuan ($123.52) from April 17, 2027.

For vessels calling at Chinese ports from April 17, 2028, the charge will be 1,120 yuan ($157.16) per net tonne.

Sino-US tensions deepening

Tensions between China and the United States have started to deepen since September, with the two superpowers looking to be struggling to move beyond their current trade tariff truce – a 90-day pause from August 11 that ends around November 9.

Retaliatory tariffs in the US-China trade war this year have sharply curtailed Chinese imports of US agriculture and energy products.

“There is not much impact likely on agriculture trade, but this step goes to show that China is still irritated with [the] US and they are not going to allow US agricultural imports anytime soon,” one oilseed trader at an international company, which sells soybeans to China, said.

“You don’t take such steps if you’re trying to resolve matters. Chinese crushers might have to do without US beans this year.”

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet as they attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC meeting in South Korea at the end of this month.