Cranes load containers onto ships at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California, US, on Thursday, March 6, 2025.Photo:VCG
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders plan to tell US Secretary of State Marco Rubio next week that the US-proposed "fines" on Chinese-made cargo vessels would hurt the region's oil and gas industry as well as push up transportation costs, Bloomberg quoted Guyana's President Irfaan Ali as saying.
The complaint from Caribbean countries is the latest sign that the US-proposed additional fees on Chinese-made ships is unpopular among almost all parties involved, and will eventually backfire, said Chinese experts.
Ali said CARICOM leaders discussed the issue in a virtual meeting on Friday held to plan for next Wednesday's meeting with Rubio in Jamaica, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
He said the US's proposed tax on Chinese-made crude and gas vessels as well as other cargo ships would adversely affect the oil and gas industries of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname.
"That, of course, will have an effect on the cost of goods coming into the region, also transport coming into the region," Ali told reporters.
Fines on Chinese-made and Chinese-linked vessels would also increase the cost of imports to the Caribbean.
As part of efforts to revive US shipbuilding, US President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order that would rely on funding from a US Trade Representative proposal to levy fines of up to $1.5 million on China-made ships or vessels from fleets that include ships made in China to American ports, per Reuters.
Those potential port fees have limited the availability of ships needed to move agriculture, energy, mining, construction and manufactured goods to international buyers, according to major US exporters and transportation providers in interviews with Reuters, letters to US officials, and comments ahead of USTR hearings, which is scheduled on Monday and Wednesday.
The Caribbean's public pushback further illustrates the unpopularity of US-proposed fines on Chinese-made cargo vessels, as such moves will not only impact those countries, but also backfire on the US, Wang Youming, director of the Institute of Developing Countries at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Due to the proposed fines, vessel owners have begun refusing bids for future US coal shipments, Xcoal Energy & Resources CEO Ernie Thrasher said in a letter to US Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dated March 12 and seen by Reuters.
Coal mines in West Virginia are also preparing to lay off miners as unsold coal inventories mount, Chris Hamilton, CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association, told Reuters.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), representing over 80 percent of the global merchant fleet, warned that the fees could disrupt US trade and raise consumer prices. Current data shows China builds 61 percent of the world's new merchant vessels, with the proposed fees potentially affecting 98 percent of container ships calling at US ports, gCaptain, a maritime and offshore industry news website, reported on Wednesday.
China's Commerce Ministry warned on February 27 that port fees on Chinese vessels entering US ports would disrupt global supply chains and backfire on the US economy and employment.
If the US insists on imposing port fees, it will drive up global shipping costs and disrupt the stability of global supply chains, He Yadong, a spokesperson for the ministry said.
Such measures would also increase domestic inflationary pressures in the US, weaken the global competitiveness of US goods, and harm US consumers and businesses, the spokesperson warned.
It's unclear whether the fines would actually revitalize US shipbuilding, but they would undoubtedly raise logistics and supply chain cost, which may in turn lead to price increases for imported goods in the US and a decline in the international competitiveness of its exports, Xu Kai, chief information officer from Shanghai International Shipping Institute, told the Global Times.
