Maritime regulator says ‘fight fire with fire’ and levy China ships at US ports

Donald Trump’s new appointment, headed by the US Maritime Regulator, said that “fighting with fire” for the United States’ own shipbuilders should “fight fire” on Chinese-built ships and fees on Chinese-built ships.

Louis Sola, who appointed the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) chairman in January, told Louis Sola Sola Financial Times, “We have to offset the subsidy that China has given their ship building industry, fought with the fire with the fire.” “Where should that money be? [from fees on Chinese ships] To go? This money should be invested in American shipping. “

Solar comments followed by a recommendation by the US Trade Representative (USTR) to impose a fee of up to $ 1.5 million on Chinese-built ships called to the United States port.

The Trump administration is expected to make a final decision on the proposal after the investigation under former President Joe Biden begins after the public hearing in March.

Shipbroker Clarkson researchers say that about 1 36,5 US port calls can be affected by the USTR system in 2021, which can produce more than annual fees as $ 52 billion.

The FMC chairman said, “I do not want to tie their legs together with their goliat.” “I would rather put his own champion there against him and the way you could do it is to give them their funds”

The proposal to impose disciplinary arrangements on Chinese ships called on US ports is the latest attempt to increase American competition, this is Trump’s main goal. The US President told a joint session of Congress this month that he would build a “ship building office” in the White House with tax incentives for the industry.

“We are going to revive the American ship building industry with commercial ship buildings and military shipbuilding to increase our defense industry bases,” Trump told lawyers.

US shipbuilders are very unlikely to compete with Chinese rivals in the near future, but experts say.

Once one of the top Ship Building countries, until March, the United States secured only 0.2 percent of the worldwide commercial shipping order book in the United States, a measure of work taken to create a ship. According to Clarkson Research it compares with 59 percent of China.

Sola said that the FMC, which controls the global shipping industry to protect the interests of US customers, was assisting in the Chinese shipping investigation to investigate the USTR before hearing a fee proposal. In response to US Workers Unions was launched last year investigation Call for investigationThe

Sola argued that although the United States became a cheap subsidized production from Asia, the country has the “resources, it has the advantage, it has the people and it has knowledge”.

He said that ships in the United States can produce “a large percentage” for loading and unloading cranes, for which technology is not so complicated “.

The extensive presence of Chinese-built crane at US ports has been investigated since the administration of the Biden by the US authorities, in the meantime Concerns they can be controlled remotelyThe

Sola acknowledged that the ship building was a “more complex animal” but argued that the United States “could be players in some small commercial ships”.

The FMC, whose lawyers and economists advise the government about the law, are politically independent government agencies. However, FMC Commissioner Sola, who has been a Republican candidate since 2019, has publicly supported Trump before.

Sola said that “President Trump’s first priority with America, [the FMC was] There is one of the most kind of “, he added that he is looking for a bigger budget so that the company can appoint more staff, though the administration is swinging to other government agencies.

Sola said, “Instead of being arts or radio or something like that, it is really easy to see and touch what the FMC does,” said Sola. He said he wanted to increase the headcount by 5 percent and the FMC wanted to accelerate the recruitment process for the best candidates from a limited pool of US marine experts.

FMC is relatively small US company, however The caseload has already increased Behind the growing concern over America’s dependence on foreign ship owners.

Biden Covid -1 blamed the “foreign -owned carrier” to “hit the affected American families” during the Biden Covid -1 epidemic by announcing the passage of the FMC’s power for the investigation in 2022 and the extension of the ship owners.

The Shipping Market Tracker Jenator chief analyst Peter Sand warns that fees on Chinese shipping presented by the USTR “may cause major traffic and delay in the United States”.

The proposal has come up that the new tariff imposed by the Trump administration, including steel and aluminum, has threatened that more tariffs are expected to increase import costs.

“The threat of more expenditure to import goods to the United States should be taken very seriously,” Sand said.

Additional Report by Demetry Sevastopolo