LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters): The Trump administration shielded on Thursday domestic exporters and vessel owners servicing the Great Lakes, the Caribbean and US territories from port fees to be levied on China-built vessels, aiming to revive US shipbuilding.
The Federal Register notice posted by the US Trade Representative was watered down from a February proposal for fees on China-built ship of up to $1.5 million per port call that sent a chill through the global shipping industry.
Ocean shipping transports about 80 per cent of global trade - from food and furniture to cement and coal. Industry executives feared virtually every cargo carrier could face steep, stacking fees that would make US export prices unattractive and foist annual import costs of $30 billion on American consumers.
"Ships and shipping are vital to American economic security and the free flow of commerce," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. "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."
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 per cent 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 US 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 US 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 US territories. Both American and Canadian vessels that call at Great Lakes ports have also won a reprieve.
