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 on Tuesday, China’s transport ministry said yesterday.
The port fees are a countermeasure against upcoming US port fees on Chinese ships, the ministry said.
The move comes as US President Donald Trump said yesterday there is no reason to meet China’s President Xi Jinping in two weeks in South Korea as planned, adding on social media that the US is calculating a massive increase in tariffs on imports from China.
Trump said China has been sending letters to countries saying it planned to impose export controls on every element of production related to rare earths.
Also starting on Tuesday, 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 US. Fees could top $1 million for a ship carrying more than 10,000 containers, and could rise annually through 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.
The US fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the US Trade Representative, 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.
In a separate statement released later yesterday, Beijing’s commerce ministry said the Chinese countermeasures were in “justified” self-defence aimed at safeguarding fairness in the global shipping and shipbuilding markets.
Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the number one position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.
The Chinese fees on US vessels could hurt the US less than the US fees might harm the legion of Chinese ships.
The fees announced by China, like those put in place by the US, “add further complexity and cost to the global network that keeps goods moving and economies connected, and risk harming their exporters, producers, and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure,” said Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Association.
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 Tuesday, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net metric 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 metric tonne.
Tensions between China and the US have deepened since September, with the two superpowers struggling to move beyond their 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.
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