{"id":33420,"date":"2025-07-10T04:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T04:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=33420"},"modified":"2025-07-10T04:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T04:04:16","slug":"carmakers-and-shipowners-say-donald-trumps-port-fees-will-hurt-us-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=33420","title":{"rendered":"Carmakers and shipowners say Donald Trump\u2019s port fees will hurt US consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=0a7d09b6-b08b-49ae-a41a-d734bd508efa\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>Carmakers and shipowners have called on the Trump administration to rethink steep new port fees on car-carrying ships, arguing that the levies will hurt American consumers and exporters. <\/p>\n<p>The barrage of complaints come after Washington in April announced new port fees it said were designed to revitalise the US shipbuilding industry and combat China\u2019s growing dominance in the sector. <\/p>\n<p>The World Shipping Council and major US companies including Ford and Caterpillar have warned that the levies will be costly and counter-productive, in response to a US Trade Representative (USTR) industry consultation that closed on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>The USTR initially proposed a $150 \u201cper car\u201d fee on non-US built vehicle carriers docking in America, before <a href=\"https:\/\/ustr.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/files\/Press\/Releases\/2025\/301%20Ships%20FRN%20Proposed%20Mod%20Annex%20III%20IV.pdf\" data-trackable=\"link\">partially relenting<\/a> last month following pressure from the industry, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/31ae831f-9742-48a4-9226-005891b26900\" data-trackable=\"link\">warned<\/a> the measures would wreak havoc on the $150bn American seaborne car import market. <\/p>\n<p>However the new model \u2014 a $14 \u201cper net tonne\u201d fee which is due to come into force on October 14 \u2014 could still cost an average of $600,000 per vessel, according to calculations submitted to USTR by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a trade group, in its own consultation response. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe proposed fees are retroactive, uncapped and will not remedy the behaviour the USTR wants to curb,\u201d said Joe Kramek, chief executive of the World Shipping Council, the trade association for the international industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Late last month, Lasse Kristoffersen, chief executive of Norway\u2019s Wallenius Wilhelmsen, operator of the world\u2019s biggest car-carrier fleet, told the Financial Times that the proposals were hampering his company\u2019s ability to handle US exports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kristoffersen said: \u201cThis rule decreases the competitiveness of US exports,\u201d adding it was \u201csomething we\u2019re working on\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Other groups pointed out that the USTR decision to apply the port fees to all non-US built car carriers, rather than just to Chinese vessels, could inadvertently strengthen China\u2019s dominance in the market, rather than reduce it. <\/p>\n<p>Autos Drive America, an industry lobby, told USTR that in reality it would be \u201cyears\u201d before the US shipbuilding industry could deliver sufficient numbers of US-built vessels to offer a viable alternative to the industry. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny fees to incentivise use of such [US-built] vessels cannot serve their purpose if US alternatives are not available,\u201d they added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Automaker Ford said in its own submission that the US government should \u201ctarget only Chinese-built vehicle carriers\u201d, adding that the decision to target all vessels, regardless of ownership, \u201cunduly burdens Ford and other US automakers that rely on non-Chinese built vehicle carriers:\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Texas-based Caterpillar, a net exporter of mining equipment and other heavy machinery, in turn said the proposed fees could lead to \u201cfewer vessels at fewer ports\u201d resulting in reduced options and higher costs to export our US-made goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese fees will\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009disincentivise vehicle carrier operators from serving the US and could lead to cost increases for consumers and difficulty for US exporters to get products overseas,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<p>The National Retail Federation agreed, saying the fees would \u201cnot deter China\u2019s broader maritime ambitions\u201d but instead would \u201cdirectly hurt\u201d American businesses and consumers.\u00a0\u201cThese fees will be passed along directly to the cargo owners, US importers and exporters to pay,\u201d it wrote. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/0a7d09b6-b08b-49ae-a41a-d734bd508efa\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in 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