Pictured here is the Shanghai Port foreign trade container terminal in Shanghai, China, October 9, 2025.
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BEIJING – China said Friday that the country will begin charging U.S. ships fees to dock at Chinese ports starting Oct. 14, a direct response to Washington imposing fees on Chinese ships arriving at U.S. ports, set to take effect on the same day.
The U.S. charges “seriously violate” international trade principles and “severely harm” maritime trade between China and the U.S., China's Ministry of Transportation said in the announcement, translated by CNBC.
China will charge 400 yuan ($56) per net ton for the U.S. ships, essentially the same as the $50 per net ton the U.S. charges Chinese ships. Beijing also joined the US with plans to increase fees over time until April 17, 2028, with the same effective dates.
“Short term [the imposition of fees on Chinese vessels] “will lead to an increase in costs for U.S. consumers, a decrease in profits for shippers and a slight decrease in demand for exports to the U.S. in certain categories,” said Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
In the longer term, there could be greater demand for non-Chinese vessels, he said. However, he did not expect demand for U.S.-made ships to increase due to high costs and low shipbuilding capacity.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the U.S. accounts for just 0.1% of global shipbuilding, compared to China's 53.3%.
This outsized Chinese market share led the U.S., starting under the Biden administration, to develop a policy of charging Chinese-made ships a fee upon arrival at U.S. ports.
China's transportation ministry said the fees would apply to ships owned by U.S. companies, organizations, individuals and entities with a stake of 25% or more. Ships flying the U.S. flag or manufactured in Washington would also be subject to fees, the ministry said.
This is “just another negotiating tactic that's about the same thing. The U.S. has levied similar fees on ships heading to China, and now China is doing the same thing,” said Peter Alexander, managing director of Z-Ben Advisors in Shanghai.
“The Trump administration continues to underestimate China and it must stop,” Alexander said. “The second- and third-order effects of political decisions appear to be rarely taken into account.”
He added: “China can give as much as it can and has shown a willingness to take direct action. Have the Americans learned any lessons in the last six months? That certainly doesn't seem to be the case.”
The announcement of China's port fees comes after China tightened its export restrictions in the last two days and added chip consultancy TechInsights to its blacklist of “unreliable companies.”
Tensions between the U.S. and China remain high despite a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month and expectations of a meeting between the two leaders in South Korea in the coming weeks.
While Trump has highlighted progress on a deal with Beijing-based ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of its TikTok app, China has been less conclusive.