The “special” port fees are suspended according to its announcement Chinawhich it had imposed on American ships arriving at its ports, while other appeasement measures in its trade war with the USA.
The two powers have been involved in a trade conflict for months, which has serious implications for the global economy. Additional tariffs imposed by the US and China had at one point reached a level that effectively prohibited bilateral trade relations, before they were subsequently reduced.
Following the October 30 meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the two countries agreed to withdraw some punitive measures they had imposed on each other.
China’s Ministry of Transport today confirmed the one-year suspension of “special” port fees that had been imposed per ton of net cargo on ships owned or operated by US companies, organizations or individuals when calling at Chinese ports.
The suspension took effect at 13:01 (local time, 07:01 Greek time), it pointed out.
This measure had come into effect in October, on the same day as a similar one adopted by US authorities aimed at opposing Chinese dominance in the shipbuilding sector.
The US, a dominant power in the sector after World War II, now accounts for only 0.1% of world production. The industry is now dominated by Asian countries, with China building almost half of the world’s ships, ahead of South Korea and Japan.
Suspension of sanctions
In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce suspended today for one year the sanctions it had imposed on five American subsidiaries of the South Korean shipbuilding giant Hanwha Ocean.
Under those sanctions, which came into force on October 14, any trade and cooperation in China with the five US companies was prohibited, as the Chinese Ministry of Commerce accused them of “contributing to and supporting” an investigation by the US authorities against the Chinese shipbuilding industry “undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development”.
Beijing justified today’s decision by citing the suspension by the US of measures that had been imposed against the Chinese shipping and shipbuilding sector. And other appeasement measures, previously announced, went into effect today.
China has extended for a year the suspension of part of the additional tariffs it had imposed on US products, keeping them at 10%. The Asian giant also suspended additional tariffs imposed in March on soybeans and some other US agricultural products. For its part, the US reduced tariffs on many Chinese products from 20% to 10%.
Today’s measures are the latest to be announced by Beijing since the Trump-Xi meeting. China announced on Sunday that it had lifted a ban on exports to the US of gallium, antimony and germanium, rare earths critical to industry.