WSC USTR comments on Section 301 investigation
The World Shipping Council (WSC), the international trade association representing container and vehicle carriers, today expressed to the U.S. Trade Representative its concern that the proposed imposition of a port fee on Chinese-built vessels would only serve to raise prices for U.S. consumers and harm U.S. export businesses, acting as a new tax on imports and exports.
As outlined in our filing, the Council “takes no position on whether China’s acts, policies, and practices with respect to the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors are actionable within the meaning of Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.” WSC’s concern with the port fee remedy proposed in the petition that triggered the USTR investigation is that such a fee would be ineffective in addressing any problems found to exist, but would negatively affect U.S. importers, exports, and consumers.
The council opposes the proposed port fee because it would:
raise prices U.S. consumers pay for imported goods and products, aggravating inflation and imposing the equivalent of a new, regressive tax on U.S. consumers and businesses.
act also as a new tax on the more than $750 billion worth of U.S. exports moved by ship annually, harming export-dependent U.S. industries and threatening many of the millions of jobs they create and sustain.
incentivize shippers to divert imports to maritime ports in Canada and Mexico to avoid a U.S. port fee and then complete delivery into the U.S. by train and truck, threatening jobs at U.S. ports, and worsening highway and rail congestion in many locations.
seek to create a new funding source for subsidies for U.S. shipbuilding without the required authorization by Congress.
As we explain in our filing, the Council believes the proposed port fee “is not an appropriate or legal response to any finding of actionable acts, policies, or practices’’ covered by the Trade Act.
Read WSC’s comments on the USTR Section 301 China Shipbuilding Subsidy Investigation.
Download the full statement here.