U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at reviving U.S. shipbuilding and reducing China's grip on the global shipping industry.
Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers for years have warned about China's growing dominance on the seas and diminishing U.S. naval readiness.
The order directs the U.S. Trade Representative to move ahead with a plan that includes levying U.S. port docking fees on any ship that is part of a fleet that includes Chinese-built or Chinese-flagged vessels. Allies will be pushed to act similarly.
It further requires the Department of Homeland Security to enforce collection of Harbor Maintenance Fees and other charges, and to prevent cargo carriers from circumventing those fees by routing goods to ports in Mexico and Canada and then sending cargo into the United States via land borders.
Chinese shipbuilders account for more than 50% of all merchant vessel cargo capacity produced globally each year, up from just 5% in 1999, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
That gain came at the expense of shipbuilders in Japan and South Korea. U.S. shipbuilding peaked in the 1970s and now accounts for a sliver of the industry output.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry has struggled due to high costs and a complex regulatory structure, which has enabled rivals like China to grow rapidly.
(Reuters - Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Gram Slattery and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler)