The Trump administration introduced new port fees targeting Chinese-built and Chinese-operated ships as part of a broader effort to promote domestic shipbuilding and reduce China’s dominance in global maritime trade. The fees are a response to findings that China leverages unfair trade practices to dominate the shipping and shipbuilding sectors.
The U.S. Trade Representative proposal is a departure from its initial iteration, which suggested charging fees of at least $1 million per ship each time it called at a U.S. port. The proposal now recommends that fees be levied based on tonnage. Another major deviation is that the USTR is now proposing that fees be charged per voyage, instead of per port call.
Also, ship operators can avoid the fees for up to three years if they can show that they’ve ordered a new U.S.-built vessel. Ships that arrive empty at U.S. ports to pick up bulk cargoes are exempted, as well as those that sail to Caribbean islands and Great Lakes ports.
Structure and implementation of the fees
- Phased approach: The fees will be introduced in phases. For the first 180 days (starting April 17, 2025), the fee is set at $0. After this period, the fee for Chinese-operated vessels will start at $50 per net ton per U.S. voyage and increase incrementally to $140 by April 2028. For Chinese-built ships, the fee starts at $18 per net ton, rising to $33 by 2028.
- Fee caps: The fee will be assessed up to five times per year, per vessel, and will not be stacked for each port call but applied per vessel per rotation or string of port calls.
- Container-based fees: Alternatively, for Chinese-built ships, the fee can be $120 per container unloaded (increasing to $250 after three years), whichever is higher.
Waivers and exemptions: Certain ships are exempt, including those arriving empty to transport U.S. commodities, ships on some shorter routes, and those operating in the Great Lakes, Caribbean or U.S. territories. Bulk commodity exports on ships that arrive empty are also exempt.
Details: The dates for the fees on ships:
Fees on Chinese-owned, Chinese-built vessels. USTR said in a notice to be published in the Federal Register the fees will be “based on the net tonnage of the vessel” and will be “assessed against any vessel with a Chinese operator or owned by an entity of China.” The notice stated that “If a vessel makes multiple U.S. entries before transiting to a foreign destination, this fee is assessed per rotation or string of U.S. port calls.”
There is no fee for the first 180 days and starting Oct. 14, 2025, the fee will be set at $50 per net ton (NT) and will rise incrementally over the next three years.
Chinese-owned operators, Chinese-owned vessels. For Chinese-owned operators or vessels, USTR said the port fees will be $0 per NT for the arriving vessel as of April 17. The fee will then be increased as follows:
- Oct. 14, 2025: $50 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2026: $80 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2027: $110 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2028: $140 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
The fee will be charged up to five times per year, per vessel.
Vessel operators will be the ones responsible for calculating the fee and will have to provide documentation if requested. They are also the ones responsible for paying accumulated fees.
Vessel operators of Chinese-built ships. USTR also outlined the level of fees that will be charged for Chinese-built vessels that arrive at a U.S. port for vessel operators that are not an operator of China. There is no fee for vessels starting April 17, but the following dates outline the fees to be charged and those will be the higher of:
- Oct. 14, 2025: $18 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2026: $23 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2027: $28 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
- April 17, 2028: $33 per net ton for the arriving vessel.
Or:
- Oct. 14, 2025: $120 for each container discharged.
- April 17, 2026: $153 for each container discharged.
- April 17, 2027: $195 for each container discharged.
- April 17, 2028: $250 for each container discharged.
The fee will be charged up to five times per year, per vessel.
However, USTR said that the fee can be suspended CBP for up to three years “if the vessel owner orders and takes delivery of a U.S.-built vessel of equivalent or greater net tonnage.” The owners will be eligible for the remission upon order of, and until delivery of, a U.S.-built vessel. However, if they do not take delivery within three years, “the fees will become due immediately.”
USTR also laid out the requirements for what would be considered a US-built vessel, including that they be built in the US, all major components of the hull or superstructure have to be manufactured in the US, and other components specified have to be manufactured in the US, including electrical and other components such as on-board cranes and more.
There are also fees to be charged on those non-U.S.-built vessels considered to be “vehicle carriers,” which USTR said for “informational purposes” would include those “normally principally identified as a vehicle carrier when the vessel is designed for wheeled or tracked cargo that can load itself on-board. Cargo generally drives onto the vessel through decks via ramps, rather than being lifted through hatches.” The fee on those vessels as of Oct. 14, 2025, will be $150 per Car Equivalent Unit (CEU) capacity.
Future restrictions will be applied relative to the shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG), but those will not apply to any vessels until April 16, 2029, and then there will incremental requirements that LNG will have to be exported on certain percentages of U.S.-flagged and U.S.-built vessels starting at 1%, and that level will not increase until starting in April 2032.
Details on exemptions. The fees will not be applied to several categories of vessels including:
- The fees imposed in the Annex do not apply to U.S. government cargo.
- The fees imposed in the Annex do not apply to the following Chinese-built vessels:
- U.S.-owned or U.S.-flagged vessels enrolled in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement, the Maritime Security Program, the Tanker Security Program, or the Cable Security Program;
- Vessels arriving empty or in ballast;
- Vessels with a capacity of equal to or less than: 4,000 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), 55,000 deadweight tons, or an individual bulk capacity of 80,000 deadweight tons;
- Vessels entering a U.S. port in the continental United States from a voyage of less than 2,000 nautical miles from a foreign port or point;
U.S.-owned vessels, where the U.S. entity owning the vessel is controlled by U.S. persons and is at least 75% beneficially owned by U.S. persons; - Specialized or special purpose-built vessels for the transport of chemical substances in bulk liquid forms; and
- Vessels principally identified as “Lakers Vessels.”
Rationale and intended effects. According to USTR, the fees are designed to:
- Disincentivize the use of Chinese shipping and Chinese-built ships.
- Provide leverage to pressure China to change its trade practices.
- Send a demand signal to spur U.S. shipbuilding and support domestic industry.
Relief for agricultural shippers
- Exemptions for ag shippers: The new rules provide relief for agricultural exporters. Ships that arrive empty to pick up U.S. commodities for export are exempt from the fees, addressing concerns that the original proposal would have made U.S. agricultural exports less competitive.