A proposed $1 million per ship fee on Chinese manufactured transport ships, will have serious repercussions affecting coal exports around the world.
In the waning days of the Biden Administration, five national labor unions filed a petition with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 requesting an investigation into the acts, policies, and practices of China in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.. Section 301 allows the United States to respond to unreasonable or discriminatory foreign government practices that burden or restrict U.S. commerce. Arguing that the “American commercial shipbuilding industry is a shell of its former self,” the petition stated that the number of commercial shipyards in the United States had significantly decreased, jobs had been lost, and U.S. amounted to only a fraction of one percent of the world’s commercial vessels. The petition alleged that China, as the world’s largest shipbuilding nation, has “seized market share, suppressed prices, and created a worldwide network of ports and logistics infrastructure that threaten to discriminate against U.S. ships and shipping companies, disrupt supply chains, and undermine vital national security interests.” As of 2025, Chinese manufacturers accounted for more than 50 percent of the world's transport ship builds.
In April 2024, the USTR initiated the investigation indicating the allegations “reflect what we have already seen across other sectors, where the PRC [China] utilizes a wide range of non-market policies and practices to undermine fair competition and dominate the market, both in China and globally.”
On January 16, 2025, as the Biden administration was winding down, the USTR released its report and findings in the investigation, concluding that China’s targeted dominance in these maritime sectors is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, and is thus “actionable” under Section 301. Federal Register Notice of Determination notes that the investigation determined:
- China’s targeting of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance is unreasonable because: it displaces foreign firms, deprives market-oriented businesses and their workers of commercial opportunities, and lessens competition; and it creates dependencies on China, increasing risk and reducing supply chain resilience. China’s targeting for dominance is also unreasonable because of its extraordinary control over its economic actors and these sectors.
- China’s targeting of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance burdens or restricts U.S. commerce by undercutting business opportunities for and investments in the U.S. maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors; restricting competition and choice; creating economic security risks from dependence and vulnerabilities in sectors critical to the functioning of the U.S. economy; and undermining supply chain resilience.