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China Hits Back on US Port Fees with Retaliatory Levies

A general view of Yantian port at night in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
A general view of Yantian port at night in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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China Hits Back on US Port Fees with Retaliatory Levies

A general view of Yantian port at night in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
A general view of Yantian port at night in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

China will slap port fees on US-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels on Tuesday as a countermeasure to US port fees on China-linked ships starting the same day, China's transport ministry stated.

Later, US President Donald Trump said he was raising tariffs on Chinese exports to the US to 100% and imposing export controls on critical software in a reprisal to export limits by China on rare earth minerals, Reuters reported.

There are relatively few US-built or US-flagged vessels conducting international trade, but China will ensnare more ships by applying levies to companies with 25% or more of their shares or board seats held by US-domiciled investment funds, analysts said.

"This casts a wide net and could affect many public shipping companies with a listing on US stock exchanges," said Erik Broekhuizen, a marine research and consulting manager at ship brokering firm Poten & Partners.

"The potential impact is significant."

On Tuesday, ships built in China - or operated or owned by Chinese entities - will also need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.

US-based shipping company Matson told customers it is subject to the new China port fees and has no plans to change its service schedule.

Also likely affected are CMA-CGM's US-based American President Lines and Israel-based Zim, which appears to have more than 25% of its shares owned by US entities, Lars Jensen, CEO of container shipping-focused consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said on LinkedIn.

The fees in both China and the US will apply to 100 vessels owned by Poseidon's Seaspan and chartered by container lines, said Jensen.

Maersk Line Limited, APL, Zim and Seaspan did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fees.

Oil tanker operators are mostly based outside the United States, but they may get stung by China's port fees because they are listed in the US, analysts said.

For example, Scorpio Tankers has the industry's largest and youngest fleet and is US-listed. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Chinese port fees "have thrown the tanker market in turmoil," Broekhuizen said in a client note, adding many vessels that could be affected are already on their way to China.

Nearly 10% of the very large crude carrier fleet, and 13% of the Suezmax, Afra and LR2 fleet would be affected, according to an analysis by ship broker and fleet data provider Fearnleys.

An analysis by Vortexa showed 43 liquefied petroleum gas-carrying super tankers, or 10% of the global fleet, will be affected by China's port fees, said Samantha Hartke, who heads Americas analysis for the energy research firm.

Vessels owned or operated by a Chinese entity will face a flat fee of $50 per net tonnage per voyage to the US China-owned carrier COSCO, including its OOCL fleet, is the most exposed with fees of around $2 billion in 2026, analysts said. COSCO did not immediately comment.

CHINA CALLS US FEES DISCRIMINATORY

The US fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the US Trade Representative, are part of a broader US effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and blunt China's naval and commercial shipping power.

"It is clearly discriminatory and severely damages the legitimate interests of China's shipping industry, seriously disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermines the international economic and trade order," the Chinese ministry said.

The USTR's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the No. 1 position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.

The fees announced by China, like those put in place by the US, "add further complexity and cost to the global network that keeps goods moving and economies connected, and risk harming their exporters, producers, and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure," said Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Association.

RATES RISE OVER THREE YEARS

For US-linked vessels berthing at Chinese ports starting Tuesday, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net metric ton, the Chinese transport ministry said.

That will increase to 640 yuan ($89.81) from April 17, 2026, and to 880 yuan ($123.52) from April 17, 2027.

For vessels calling at Chinese ports from April 17, 2028, the charge will be 1,120 yuan ($157.16) per net metric ton.

Tensions between China and the United States have deepened since September, with the two superpowers struggling to move beyond their trade tariff truce - a 90-day pause from August 11 that ends around November 9.

Retaliatory tariffs in the US-China trade war this year have sharply curtailed Chinese imports of US agriculture and energy products.

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Leading Harvard Trade Economist Says Saudi Arabia Holds Key to Success in Fragmented Global Economy

Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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Leading Harvard Trade Economist Says Saudi Arabia Holds Key to Success in Fragmented Global Economy

Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).
Professor Pol Antràs speaks during a panel discussion at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Harvard University economics professor Pol Antràs said Saudi Arabia represents an exceptional model in the shifting global trade landscape, differing fundamentally from traditional emerging-market frameworks. He also stressed that globalization has not ended but has instead re-formed into what he describes as fragmented integration.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, Antràs said Saudi Arabia’s Vision-driven structural reforms position the Kingdom to benefit from the ongoing phase of fragmented integration, adding that the country’s strategic focus on logistics transformation and artificial intelligence constitutes a key engine for sustainable growth that extends beyond the volatility of global crises.

Antràs, the Robert G. Ory Professor of Economics at Harvard University, is one of the leading contemporary theorists of international trade. His research, which reshaped understanding of global value chains, focuses on how firms organize cross-border production and how regulation and technological change influence global trade flows and corporate decision-making.

He said conventional classifications of economies often obscure important structural differences, noting that the term emerging markets groups together countries with widely divergent industrial bases. Economies that depend heavily on manufacturing exports rely critically on market access and trade integration and therefore face stronger competitive pressures from Chinese exports that are increasingly shifting toward alternative markets.

Saudi Arabia, by contrast, exports extensively while facing limited direct competition from China in its primary export commodity, a situation that creates a strategic opportunity. The current environment allows the Kingdom to obtain imports from China at lower cost and access a broader range of goods that previously flowed largely toward the United States market.

Addressing how emerging economies should respond to dumping pressures and rising competition, Antràs said countries should minimize protectionist tendencies and instead position themselves as committed participants in the multilateral trading system, allowing foreign producers to access domestic markets while encouraging domestic firms to expand internationally.

He noted that although Chinese dumping presents concerns for countries with manufacturing sectors that compete directly with Chinese production, the risk is lower for Saudi Arabia because it does not maintain a large manufacturing base that overlaps directly with Chinese exports. Lower-cost imports could benefit Saudi consumers, while targeted policy tools such as credit programs, subsidies, and support for firms seeking to redesign and upgrade business models represent more effective responses than broad protectionist measures.

Globalization has not ended

Antràs said globalization continues but through more complex structures, with trade agreements increasingly negotiated through diverse arrangements rather than relying primarily on multilateral negotiations. Trade deals will continue to be concluded, but they are likely to become more complex, with uncertainty remaining a defining feature of the global trading environment.

Interest rates and artificial intelligence

According to Antràs, high global interest rates, combined with the additional risk premiums faced by emerging markets, are constraining investment, particularly in sectors that require export financing, capital expenditure, and continuous quality upgrading.

However, he noted that elevated interest rates partly reflect expectations of stronger long-term growth driven by artificial intelligence and broader technological transformation.

He also said if those growth expectations materialize, productivity gains could enable small and medium-sized enterprises to forecast demand more accurately and identify previously untapped markets, partially offsetting the negative effects of higher borrowing costs.

Employment concerns and the role of government

The Harvard professor warned that labor markets face a dual challenge stemming from intensified Chinese export competition and accelerating job automation driven by artificial intelligence, developments that could lead to significant disruptions, particularly among younger workers. He said governments must adopt proactive strategies requiring substantial fiscal resources to mitigate near-term labor-market shocks.

According to Antràs, productivity growth remains the central condition for success: if new technologies deliver the anticipated productivity gains, governments will gain the fiscal space needed to compensate affected groups and retrain the workforce, achieving a balance between addressing short-term disruptions and investing in long-term strategic gains.

Business

Aljadaan: Emerging Markets Account for 70% of Global Growth

Al-Jadaan speaking to the attendees at the "AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies" (Asharq Al-Awsat
Al-Jadaan speaking to the attendees at the "AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies" (Asharq Al-Awsat
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Aljadaan: Emerging Markets Account for 70% of Global Growth

Al-Jadaan speaking to the attendees at the "AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies" (Asharq Al-Awsat
Al-Jadaan speaking to the attendees at the "AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies" (Asharq Al-Awsat

Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Aljadaan stressed Sunday that the world economy is going through a “profound transition,” saying emerging markets and developing economies now account for nearly 60 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in purchasing power terms and over 70 percent of global growth.

In his opening remarks at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, organized by the Saudi Ministry of Finance and the IMF in AlUla, the minister said these economies have become an increasingly important driver of global growth with their share of global economy more than doubling since 2010.

“Today, the 10 emerging economies in the G20 alone account for more than half of the world growth. Yet, they face a more complex and fragmented environment, elevated debt levels, slower trade growth and increasing exposure to geopolitical shocks.”

“Unfortunately, more than half of low income countries are either in or at the risk of debt distress. At the same time global trade growth has slowed at around half of what it was pre the pandemic,” Aljadaan added.

The Finance Minister stressed that the Saudi experience over the past decade has reinforced three lessons that may be relevant to the discussions at the two-day conference, which brings together a select group of ministers and central bank governors, leaders of international organizations, leading investors and academics.

“First, macroeconomic stability is not the enemy of growth. It is actually the foundation,” he said.

“Structural reforms deliver results only when institutions deliver. So there is no point of reforming ... if the institutions are unable to deliver,” he stated.

Finally, he said that “international cooperation matters more, not less, in a fragmented world.”

Business

Georgieva from AlUla: Growth Still Lacks Pre-pandemic Levels

Kristalina Georgieva speaking to attendees at the second edition of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Kristalina Georgieva speaking to attendees at the second edition of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Georgieva from AlUla: Growth Still Lacks Pre-pandemic Levels

Kristalina Georgieva speaking to attendees at the second edition of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Kristalina Georgieva speaking to attendees at the second edition of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies (Asharq Al-Awsat)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Sunday that world growth still lacks pre-pandemic levels, expressing concern as she expected more shocks amid high spending and rising debt levels in many countries.

Georgieva spoke at the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, organized by the Saudi Ministry of Finance and the IMF in AlUla.

The two-day conference brings together a select group of ministers and central bank governors, leaders of international organizations, leading investors and academics to deliberate on policies to global stability, prosperity, and multilateral collaboration.

Georgieva said that the conference was launched last year in recognition of the growing role of emerging market economies in a world of sweeping transformations.

“I came out of this gathering .... With a sense of hope for the pragmatic attitude and determination to pursue good policies and build strong institutions,” she said.

Georgieva stressed that “good policies pay off,” and said that growth rates across emerging economies reached four percent this year, exceeding by a large margin those of advanced economies that are around 1.5 percent.