Shipping industry to USTR: Port fee would not alter China’s incentives

A port fee on Chinese-built ships sought by a coalition of U.S. unions would not meaningfully change China’s support of its shipbuilding sector, a major global shipping trade association told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Wednesday, arguing that operators could avoid the fee by substituting other foreign-made vessels to service U.S. routes. The potential impacts of the proposed fee – called for in a petition filed earlier this year by a group of major unions – were...