‘This Basically Has No Real Impact’: Trump’s Shipping Fee Gambit Backfires As China Retaliates And Consumers Face Higher Costs

The trade war between the United States and China is getting worse as both countries get ready to add new fees on each other’s ships starting Tuesday. This move goes beyond the usual tariff fights and could mean higher costs for American shoppers while messing up global supply chains.

According to Politico, starting next week, cargo coming to the U.S. on Chinese-owned or operated ships will face port fees of $50 per ton, with yearly increases of $30 per ton over the next three years. China said Friday it would match these fees as payback. The U.S. also plans to charge fees on non-Chinese operators using ships built in China. By 2028, Chinese fees will reach a high of $157.

But experts say the impact will hit one side much harder than the other. “This is symbolic. Less than 1 percent of U.S. vessels docking in China annually are U.S. flagged vessels, so the reality is this basically has no real impact,” said Cameron Johnson, a senior partner at Shanghai-based supply chain consultancy Tidalwave Solutions. “But it signals that Beijing will match every single effort the United States targets against China.”

Big Shipping Companies Will Absorb Costs At First But Not Forever

The Trump administration says the fees will help bring back the struggling U.S. shipbuilding industry, which has been going downhill since the late 1970s. The policy came after five U.S. labor unions filed a petition last year, which led to an investigation that found Chinese shipping practices hurt American industry.

Big ocean carriers like COSCO, Maersk, and CMA CGM said at first they would absorb the new costs. A maritime consultancy called Alphaliner guesses the fees will cost the top 10 container shipping companies a total of $3.2 billion by the end of 2026. Chinese shipper COSCO alone will pay around $700 million in U.S. port fees after the first year, with each standard ship carrying 10,000 containers facing $3.5 million in extra costs.

But U.S. retailers, manufacturers, and shipping experts warn these absorbed costs will only last for a short time. “The fees can’t help but have a constraint on the shipping cargo capacity coming to the U.S., and with less capacity, the pricing of shipping goes up, meaning you could literally have empty shelves during Christmas,” said John McCown, a fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy.

Joe Kramek, president of the World Shipping Council, warned the fees “risk harming their exporters, producers and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure.” This comes as the U.S. and China face a November 10 deadline to reach a new trade deal, with little progress reported on main issues. The ongoing fight follows a pattern of market ups and downs and money problems from Trump’s changing tariff policies.