I'd love to know the details of how they're going to enforce this. My laymans understanding is that "who's ship is this" is not actually an easy question. There's: Where it's made Where it's...
I'd love to know the details of how they're going to enforce this. My laymans understanding is that "who's ship is this" is not actually an easy question. There's:
Where it's made
Where it's registered
What flag it's flying
Who owns it
and several other interesting details that you can use to justify your action, and that the ship owners can basically change on a dime. Knowing the Trump admin i wouldn't be shocked at all if a bunch of businessmen just shrugged and told their teams to change the flags/registrations/shell ownership and were done with it.
Interesting, and maybe has teeth. Again my understanding is that even tracking these things is tricky, so I wouldn't be shocked if it just magically turns out that no Chinese ship docks at a US...
Interesting, and maybe has teeth.
Again my understanding is that even tracking these things is tricky, so I wouldn't be shocked if it just magically turns out that no Chinese ship docks at a US port despite having left previous ports as one, but that will be on experts to determine and track.
Of course this does mean that it's also punishing anyone who bought a vessel made in china, which according to the article is something like 98% of all ships in this category, soooooo yeah.
Of note:
Ocean carriers if they provide proof of ordering a U.S.-built vessel, the fees or restrictions on an equivalent non-U.S.-built vessel are suspended for up to three years.·
As with all laws, if you think this is sane or not, "don't be an asshole" is hard to actually codify. Seems this makes a nice market of "future ships" to dodge on the penalty. Shipbuilders will of course lock in steep early termination fees and what not, but at the same time I wouldn't be shocked if a large % of these orders evaporate near the deadline.
What a bizarre approach. I thought they were going after cargo, not ships. It's like when you move to a new state and the DMV charges you a sales tax for your car, but every time you park it...
The U.S. government began investigating China’s dominance in the shipbuilding industry, where it manufactures as much as 75%-80% of fleets, during the Biden administration.
The fees will be charged once per voyage and not per port, as originally proposed.
What a bizarre approach. I thought they were going after cargo, not ships. It's like when you move to a new state and the DMV charges you a sales tax for your car, but every time you park it instead of once.
Of course we can't consider providing grants or tax breaks to local ship builders, that would be crazy.
It’s about promoting American (or at least non-Chinese) shipbuilding. American shipbuilding is currently nearly nonexistent, for commercial ships anyway. I don’t expect it to be all that effective.
It’s about promoting American (or at least non-Chinese) shipbuilding. American shipbuilding is currently nearly nonexistent, for commercial ships anyway. I don’t expect it to be all that effective.
It was only "paused" on everyone else except China. The rest still gets 10% unless they retaliated, while China can still enjoy a 125 or 140% tariff or whatever it is right now. But it's not the...
It was only "paused" on everyone else except China. The rest still gets 10% unless they retaliated, while China can still enjoy a 125 or 140% tariff or whatever it is right now.
But it's not the same as a tariff. Tariffs are done on the buyer side, not the shipping company. You as the buyer would pay the tariff on the imported Temu goods. This is an additional port fee introduced to discourage Chinese shipping. Though you shouldn't be surprised if that cost is passed on to the buyer as well.
And in practice I'd argue that, together with the ridiculously high tariff, that it'll just mean supply chains will go to countries with 10% tariffs, slightly "modified", and then sold onto to the...
And in practice I'd argue that, together with the ridiculously high tariff, that it'll just mean supply chains will go to countries with 10% tariffs, slightly "modified", and then sold onto to the US. Maybe not in practice, but it will on paper. Which may turn the whole ordeal into subsidising third parties. On tax payers money.
I think the port fees also were paused or delayed for a minute because of the prevalence of Chinese built/owned ships, even if they may be flagged out of other countries (which is a whole thing)...
I think the port fees also were paused or delayed for a minute because of the prevalence of Chinese built/owned ships, even if they may be flagged out of other countries (which is a whole thing) and it looks like they modified it after that.
So there was some sort of "wait we should talk about this more" portion of this too.
And there are still additional 25% tariffs on random good categories which were imposed before April (plus the pre-existing tariffs Biden put on solar panels and electric cars).
And there are still additional 25% tariffs on random good categories which were imposed before April (plus the pre-existing tariffs Biden put on solar panels and electric cars).
From mid-October, Chinese ship owners and operators will be charged $50 per ton of cargo with the fees increasing each year for the next three years.
There have been concerns that the measures would further disrupt global trade after US President Donald Trump's raft of tariff policies, but the fee is less severe than originally suggested.
…
Fees on Chinese vessel owners and operators of ships built in China will be based on the weight of their cargo, how many containers they carry or the number of vehicles onboard.
For affected bulk vessels, the fee will be based on the weight of their cargo, while the charge for container ships will depend on how many containers a vessel is carrying.
The $50 per ton of cargo will rise by $30 a ton each year for the next three years. Fees on Chinese-built ships will start at $18 a ton or $120 per container and also rise over the next three years.
Non-US built ships carrying cars will be charged $150 per vehicle.
The fee will be applied once per voyage on affected ships and not more than five times a year.
The USTR also decided not to impose fees based on how many Chinese-built ships are in a fleet or based on prospective orders of Chinese ships, as it had originally proposed.
…
Sanne Manders, president of logistics firm Flexport, said both tariffs and strikes at ports in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium in the first three months of the year had been "clogging" ports.
Congestion in the UK "is particularly severe in Felixstowe", while in continental Europe Rotterdam and Barcelona are "also pretty severe".
"I do believe that if more cargo is going to be routed towards Europe, finding new buyers that will drive up the volumes even further, that could lead to more congestion," he said - although terminals would be open for more hours per day in the summer due to better weather.
He said shippers were looking for new markets, but that also there may be a surge of goods to the US to try to take advantage of that 90-day window for goods from some countries.
I'd love to know the details of how they're going to enforce this. My laymans understanding is that "who's ship is this" is not actually an easy question. There's:
and several other interesting details that you can use to justify your action, and that the ship owners can basically change on a dime. Knowing the Trump admin i wouldn't be shocked at all if a bunch of businessmen just shrugged and told their teams to change the flags/registrations/shell ownership and were done with it.
There's more detail in this article.
Interesting, and maybe has teeth.
Again my understanding is that even tracking these things is tricky, so I wouldn't be shocked if it just magically turns out that no Chinese ship docks at a US port despite having left previous ports as one, but that will be on experts to determine and track.
Of course this does mean that it's also punishing anyone who bought a vessel made in china, which according to the article is something like 98% of all ships in this category, soooooo yeah.
Of note:
As with all laws, if you think this is sane or not, "don't be an asshole" is hard to actually codify. Seems this makes a nice market of "future ships" to dodge on the penalty. Shipbuilders will of course lock in steep early termination fees and what not, but at the same time I wouldn't be shocked if a large % of these orders evaporate near the deadline.
What a bizarre approach. I thought they were going after cargo, not ships. It's like when you move to a new state and the DMV charges you a sales tax for your car, but every time you park it instead of once.
Of course we can't consider providing grants or tax breaks to local ship builders, that would be crazy.
It’s about promoting American (or at least non-Chinese) shipbuilding. American shipbuilding is currently nearly nonexistent, for commercial ships anyway. I don’t expect it to be all that effective.
I thought Trump "paused" his tariffs. Isn't these fees just tariffs by another name?
It was only "paused" on everyone else except China. The rest still gets 10% unless they retaliated, while China can still enjoy a 125 or 140% tariff or whatever it is right now.
But it's not the same as a tariff. Tariffs are done on the buyer side, not the shipping company. You as the buyer would pay the tariff on the imported Temu goods. This is an additional port fee introduced to discourage Chinese shipping. Though you shouldn't be surprised if that cost is passed on to the buyer as well.
And in practice I'd argue that, together with the ridiculously high tariff, that it'll just mean supply chains will go to countries with 10% tariffs, slightly "modified", and then sold onto to the US. Maybe not in practice, but it will on paper. Which may turn the whole ordeal into subsidising third parties. On tax payers money.
I think the port fees also were paused or delayed for a minute because of the prevalence of Chinese built/owned ships, even if they may be flagged out of other countries (which is a whole thing) and it looks like they modified it after that.
So there was some sort of "wait we should talk about this more" portion of this too.
It's hard to keep up
And if we can't follow along, you know for sure Trump isn't either. It's a maddening situation.
And there are still additional 25% tariffs on random good categories which were imposed before April (plus the pre-existing tariffs Biden put on solar panels and electric cars).
From the article:
…
…
Honestly, I read "US ... plans to hit ships" and assumed military action at first. Suboptimal wording?