China responds to Trump with the same currency and imposes a special fee for American ships entering their ports
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Photo: Susan Walsh / AP / Profimedia
China announced on Friday that it will impose special taxes for American ships in Chinese ports, as reprisals for similar measures announced by the United States in April, AFP, quoted by Agerpres.
These taxes will be applied starting next Tuesday to ships owned by American companies, those rented by American companies and those built in the United States, the Chinese Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
These ships arriving in China will be charged with 400 yuan ($ 56) for each net ton. The rate will increase to 640 yuan ($ 90) in April next year, after which they will climb annually by 2028.
These special port fees will apply to each transport to China, not to each stop in the port, if the ship makes several stops in China, without exceeding five taxes per year, the Ministry of Transport said.
This measure will enter into force on the same day when a similar measure will be applied by the US authorities. The latter will charge taxes built or operated by Chinese companies that are in the United States. The American initiative is the result of an investigation launched under the administration of former President Joe Biden and completed after Donald Trump's return to power in January.
“In the short term, this will lead to an increase in costs for US consumers, a decrease in profits for carriers and a small reduction in demand for US in certain categories,” said Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce, for CNBC.
China asked the US to “rectify its actions immediately”
“These are just several eye-eye negotiation tactics, tooth tooth.”
“The Trump administration continues to underestimate China and this has to stop,” Alexander added. “It seems that little attention is paid to the secondary and tertiary effects of the policy elections,” he stressed.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport of China described the initiative of Beijing as “a legitimate step intended to protect the legal rights and interests of Chinese maritime companies.”
“We urge the United States to rectify its actions immediately and end the unreasonable constraints on the Chinese maritime industry,” said the spokesman.
However, analysts specify that port fees imposed by China for American ships will have a lower impact than those imposed by the US for Chinese ships.
According to sources in the naval industry, last year, Chinese naval sites built over 1,000 commercial ships, while American sites built less than 10 commercial vessels.
The new measure taken by Beijing is coming before US President Donald Trump has a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this month, at a regional summit in South Korea. It will be the first meeting between the two heads of state since Trump's return to the White House on January 20.
