Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

US seaports have urged the Biden administration to rethink a proposed 25 percent duty on Chinese-made gantry cranes, Bloomberg reported on Monday. This scene is quite ironic: Washington is putting a gun to China's gantry cranes, ready to pull the trigger anytime, but it is surprised to find that US seaports are standing in the way.

The American Association of Port Authorities was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that it knows of seven domestic ports that are under contract to buy at least 35 Chinese ship-to-shore cranes. Using an average price per crane of $15 million, a proposed tariff will create additional costs to the port operators totaling $131.3 million, the association said. That means the tariffs will either discourage expansion plans or force cuts to existing projects.

The allegation by some US politicians that Chinese-made gantry cranes have been fitted with remote control devices and thus pose a national security threat is baseless. It is as absurd as claiming Chinese garlic is unsafe and poses a "threat to US national security." The US' generalization of the national security concept to suppress and discredit the Chinese companies seems to have been an endless political farce.

Currently, the farce is expected to cause direct economic losses of at least $131.3 million to the US economy, solely due to the issue of the cranes. The indirect losses are estimated to be huge. 

Industry insiders believe a proposed duty on Chinese-made gantry cranes would disadvantage US seaports against their competitors in Canada and Mexico, according to Bloomberg. Barbara Melvin, head of South Carolina Ports, was quoted as saying that the cost will translate to longer waiting times in US seaports and increased dwelling times for visiting container ships.

Chinese crane companies have maintained the leading position in global market competition. Some statistics showed around 80 percent of the cranes used in US ports are made by Chinese companies, which are known to produce high-quality, affordable products. This reflects China's manufacturing strengths, advanced technologies, as well as the close cooperation with other global suppliers in the international industrial chain. 

After many decades of practice and development, China has found the style that works best for its manufacturing sector. Its infrastructure equipment sector is in a phase of rapid development. The boom in the industries aligns with the global trend of infrastructure updates, and is expected to make positive contributions to global economic growth.

However, jealous of China's achievements, the US tries to smear the Chinese economy and crack down China's advanced production capacity. Amid the distorted atmosphere toward China in Washington, blaming China is the easiest and cheapest way, but this will only further harm the US economy, instead of addressing its real problems.

It won't be easy to revitalize the US manufacturing sector. As known to the world, protectionism, unilateralism and Washington's geopolitical games won't bring back the lost manufacturing jobs to US shores. These measures will only disrupt the existing industrial chain and cause losses to the US economy.

From an economic perspective, China and the US are collaborators in the global industrial and supply chains, not enemies. In letters to the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai last week, ports in California, Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia said there are no viable alternatives to Chinese cranes, according to Bloomberg. 

Now, what is urgently needed is to oppose the economic decoupling and bring cooperation back to the right track of globalization. Hopefully, the US can adopt an open attitude toward cooperation on the manufacturing sectors and demonstrate its support for globalization and free trade.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn