April 10th, 2025 – The United States will not enforce the full range of proposed port fees on Chinese vessels using American ports, and the fees will not be applied cumulatively.
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer explained that the fees, initially introduced to support a resurgence in U.S. shipbuilding, had faced significant opposition from the shipping industry.
Industry stakeholders raised concerns that port fees as high as $1.5 million per ship could lead to higher container rates, disrupt services, and force ocean carriers to eliminate routes to smaller ports. Greer acknowledged meeting with some stakeholders and emphasized that not all the proposed fees would be implemented or stacked together.
The fees were initially proposed in February following a U.S. Trade Representative investigation, which found that China was using unfair trade practices to dominate the global container shipping and shipbuilding industries.
While the port charges could still be introduced by November, further study will be conducted before any final decisions are made.
