The US Trump administration has indicated that it is likely to revise its hefty proposed fines on Chinese-built and operated ships, Safety4Sea reported on 11 April.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer told a Senate Finance Committee hearing on 8 April that the administration was revising its proposals in response to public feedback.
“They’re proposed actions, they are a series of potential remedies that could be used to incentivise shipbuilding in the US. They’re not all going to be implemented. They’re not all going to be stacked,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the measures were meant to address the lack of domestic shipbuilding.
The USTR had proposed fees of up to US$1.5M for each Chinese-made vessel entering a US port and up to US$1M for Chinese-operated ships, along with provisions to shift 15% of US exports onto US-flagged ships.
The administration’s revised plan could include delaying implementation and introducing new fee structures aimed at lowering costs for visiting vessels, Safety4Sea wrote, quoting various reports including Reuters.
The USTR proposals were published in a Federal Register notice on 21 February and were made in response to a Section 301 investigation into China’s dominance over global shipping and shipbuilding.
However, US grain and oilseed groups opposed the proposal in comments submitted to the USTR.
“Though well intentioned, this proposal threatens to impose significant costs on US grain and oilseed exports,” which contributed US$174bn to the US economy, National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) CEO Mike Seyfert said. “If enacted, this proposal would effectively eliminate half of the global bulk fleet that we need to export almost one-third of grains and oilseeds that are produced in America. That puts US agriculture at a considerable competitive disadvantage in global markets.”
Container vessels, which were used to export about US$9bn worth of grain and oilseeds in 2024, would also be severely affected by the proposal, Seyfert said.
Comments were also filed by the North American Export Grain Association, the National Oilseed Processors Association, US Wheat Associates and National Association of Wheat Growers, which estimated that an additional US$1M fee on vessels carrying agricultural exports would increase costs of most shipments between US$15-40/tonne.
