The photo shows the foreign trade container terminal at Shanghai Port in Shanghai, China, on October 9, 2025.
Photo | Future Publishing | Getty Images
BEIJING – China announced Friday that it will begin collecting fees on U.S. ships entering Chinese ports starting Oct. 14. This is a direct response to the US government’s imposition of fees on Chinese vessels arriving at US ports, and is scheduled to take effect on the same day.
China’s Ministry of Transportation said in a statement translated by CNBC that the U.S. fee is a “serious violation” of international trade principles and “significantly harms” maritime trade between China and the United States.
China plans to charge US ships 400 yuan ($56) per net ton, essentially the same as the $50 per net ton that the US charges Chinese ships. The Chinese government has also aligned itself with the United States with plans to increase fees over time until April 17, 2028, with the same effective date.
“In the short term, this will result in increased costs for U.S. consumers, reduced profits for shippers, and some reduction in demand for exports to the U.S. in certain categories,” said Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
In the long term, demand for non-Chinese ships could increase, he said. But he did not expect demand for U.S.-built ships to increase because of high costs and low shipbuilding capacity.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the United States accounts for only 0.1% of the world’s shipbuilding industry, while China accounts for 53.3%.
In response to China’s huge market share, the United States, under the Biden administration, began developing a policy to collect fees when Chinese ships arrive at American ports.
China’s Ministry of Transportation said the fee applies to ships owned by U.S. companies, organizations, individuals and entities with a 25% or more stake. The department said vessels flying the U.S. flag or built in Washington would also be charged.
This is “just a retaliatory negotiating tactic. The US imposed similar fees on ships going to China and now China is doing the same,” said Peter Alexander, managing director at Z Ben Advisors in Shanghai.
“The Trump administration continues to underestimate China, and this needs to stop,” Alexander said. “Second- and third-order effects of policy choices appear to have been largely ignored.”
He added: “China can do what it can and has shown a willingness to take direct action. Have Americans learned any lessons over the past six months? Certainly not.”
China’s port fee announcement comes after China doubled its export controls in the past two days and expanded its blacklist of “untrustworthy companies” to include chip consultancy Tech Insights.
Tensions between the US and China remain high despite a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month and hopes that the two leaders will meet in South Korea in the coming weeks.
President Trump has highlighted progress on a deal for Beijing-based ByteDance to sell the TikTok app’s U.S. operations, but China has been less decisive.
