On October 14, local time, the China-U.S. economic and trade game met a key node.
According to Observer Network, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officially implemented a triple fee standard for ships owned, operated and built by China, which is equivalent to an indirect tariff of 4% on Sino-US trade.
Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Transport has quickly introduced reciprocal countermeasures, imposing high "special port charges" on U.S. ships.
According to Bloomberg calculations, the starting point for the fee levied by China this time is RMB 400 per ton, which is equivalent to an additional US$6.2 million for a giant ship each time it calls at the port.
In this regard, relevant practitioners said, "The United States did this first, and China just responded tit for tat. This is just another round of tit-for-tat negotiation strategy."
This economic conflict over port fees has escalated trade friction between the two countries again.
The U.S. shipping policy is seen as a precise strike against China’s shipbuilding industry, trying to curb China’s competitiveness in the global shipbuilding market by raising operating costs. The U.S. shipbuilding industry has been in decline in recent years, and its government hopes to use this measure to create a more favorable environment for the domestic shipbuilding industry. However, with the implementation of the tariff policy, the problems follow. The rise in port charges not only put pressure on Chinese ships, but also has a potential negative impact on the U.S. economy itself. The rise in logistics costs may further increase U.S. domestic inflation, while the compressed export profits of agricultural products have left the relevant industries upset.
Faced with U.S. sanctions, China responded quickly.
According to the new rules, from October 14 this year to April 16 next year, China will charge a standard fee of 400 yuan per net tonne for U.S. vessels stationing in Chinese ports, and will increase from April 17 next year to 1120 yuan per net tonne by 2028.
Take an ordinary American supertanker as an example. It will pay an additional fee of US$6.2 million for a single call at a China port. China's countermeasures are not only costly, but also adopt a "step-by-step incremental" strategy to gradually increase economic pressure on the United States while leaving room for subsequent negotiations.
It is worth noting that China's policy design also includes a flexible clause: when ships hang on multiple Chinese ports on the same flight, they only pay "special port charges" on the first port, and subsequent ports do not need to charge repeated charges.
The US is clearly feeling the pressure. Before China's countermeasures came into effect, the Office of the United States Trade Representative had begun to adjust its policies, lowering the fees of some foreign car carriers, and exempting specific ethane and liquefied petroleum gas carriers from relevant fees.
Analysts believe that the adjustment is intended to alleviate domestic supply chain tensions and inflationary pressures in the United States, while avoiding further impacts on the U.S. economy from port fee disputes.The data show that since the U.S. trade war, U.S. exports of corn and other agricultural products to China have declined significantly, and the escalation of port costs may further exacerbate this trend.
The port fee dispute is not only a continuation of the trade friction between China and the United States, but also a direct confrontation between the two countries in the global supply chain competition.The United States is trying to reverse the situation through economic pressure, and China is responding with accurate countermeasures.The policy game of both sides not only affects the economies of the two countries, but may also have a profound impact on the international shipping market and global trade flows.
In the future, will the two sides be able to resolve their differences through negotiations and alleviate the economic pressure caused by port cost disputes? will there be new countermeasures or policy adjustments?