A proposed fee on Chinese shipping companies and Chinese-built vessels calling on U.S. ports could mean added costs passed down to U.S. distributors as importers and exporters would likely battle higher freight rates.

On Feb. 21, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative unveiled a proposal that would impose substantial fees each time one of the vessels enters a U.S. port, up to $1.5 million per port visit. The fee structure could have a significant impact considering its scale: Chinese shipyards account for more than half of the cargo ships, tankers and ocean vessels, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

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If passed, the move would hit some of the world’s largest shipping companies: Cosco, Maersk and MSC. (Read more on WSJ.)

The fees are proposed to combat China’s dominance of the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, which the office of the U.S. Trade Representative investigated in March 2024 after five national labor unions filed a petition to open an investigation. The resulting report found that China’s dominance in the sectors “restricts U.S. commerce.”

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The proposal is open to public comment until a March 24 hearing. If the new fees are imposed by the Trump administration, the fees would happen to follow the 10% tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.

Find out what distributors are saying about what those tariffs could mean for demand and margins on MDM Premium.