USTR seeks two-month delay of US port fees on China-linked vessels

The USTR has asked to keep planned US port fees on China-linked vessels suspended through Jan. 9, a two-month extension of the current reprieve from its Nov. 9 expiry.

The proposed suspension covers a measure intended to penalise China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors. It gives Washington and Beijing more time to negotiate, and the USTR is also “requesting comments from any interested person,” with filings due by the end of this week.

Under the measure:

• Non-Chinese companies using Chinese-built vessels face $50 per net tonne when calling at US ports.
• Chinese companies face $18 per net ton or $120 per container discharged, whichever is higher.

That schedule remains far below the Trump administration’s initial threats of $1 million per US port call or $1,000 per net ton. On a hypothetical 10,000-net-ton call, the $50 rate equals $500,000, while $1,000 per ton would produce $10 million. The threatened per-ton rate was 20 times the scheduled charge.

For Chinese companies, the higher-of formula makes box count as important as net tonnage. On a 10,000-net-ton ship, $18 per ton equals $180,000; 1,500 discharged containers produce the same amount, and 1,501 boxes push the container rate ahead.

USTR stated: “The US is continuing to engage with China with the goal of obtaining the elimination of the acts, policies, and practices at issue in the investigation. The trade representative is therefore proposing to further suspend for two months.”

For non-Chinese carriers and other companies using Chinese-built tonnage, the $50 charge is not a token line item. It applies at every covered US port call, so a vessel calling multiple US ports could multiply the exposure.

Forwarders can defer resetting quotes around a new port levy, while Chinese carriers face the higher of the tonnage and container charges. Who absorbs or passes through that cost will shape service pricing.

What does the delay change for shippers?

It changes near-term pricing risk, not final landed cost. If approved, shippers gain two months without a scheduled port-fee increase, and forwarders get more time to keep quotations coherent.

The reprieve is procedural, not permanent. Freight does not negotiate, after all.

Chinese high-tech exports to the US surged following Trump’s court tariff defeat. Chinese containerised exports to the US also outperformed those from other Asian origins after tariffs.

No TEU, cargo-tonnage or year-on-year figures accompany that shift, so it establishes direction rather than scale. The trade performance makes Chinese-built vessel exposure more commercially relevant, but the measure reaches company nationality and vessel construction rather than cargo value or origin.

The notice does not set out what follows after Jan. 9 if the extension is approved, and no long-term agreement has been inked with Beijing. If the request fails, the measure can proceed when the current suspension expires on Nov. 9.

If approved, the $50-per-net-tonne and higher-of $18/$120 charges remain off the table through Jan. 9, but neither the notice nor negotiations provide a landing point beyond that date. Freight buyers should watch the comment deadline and the Nov. 9 expiry; if the extension has not been finalised, the fee question becomes immediate again.