The US and China have escalated their trade war to the seas by implementing reciprocal additional port fees. Washington aims to break China's global maritime dominance.
The trade war between the US and China has now spread to ports. Starting Tuesday, October 14, the two countries began imposing additional port fees on each other's ships. The decision covers all types of maritime transport and is seen as a harbinger of a new crisis in global maritime trade. China exempts ships entering its shipyards for repairs and Chinese-made ships from this measure.
The Washington administration has introduced its own port fees to break China's dominance in the global shipping and shipbuilding industries and to encourage American shipbuilding.
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Is an international shipping crisis coming?
COSCO may be at a disadvantage
The measure is expected to hit China's giant container shipping company COSCO particularly hard. Due to the port fees imposed by the US, it is estimated that the container shipping sector alone will incur an additional cost of $3.2 billion by 2026, with nearly half of this burden falling on COSCO.
The Trump administration also warned countries supporting the United Nations' new plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in maritime shipping that they could face port bans, sanctions, or additional ship taxes. China had announced its support for this environmental plan.
