China said Monday it would suspend for one year “special port fees” on U.S. vessels “simultaneously” with Washington’s pause on levies targeting Chinese ships, as a fragile trade truce between the superpowers continues to take shape.
The United States and China have been involved in a volatile trade and tariff war for months, but agreed to walk back some punitive measures after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met last month in South Korea.
At one point, duties on both sides had reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world’s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains.
The suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships operated by or built in the United States that visited Chinese ports, began at 13:01 (05:01 GMT) on Monday, a transport ministry statement said.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry was dominant after the Second World War but has gradually declined and now accounts for just 0.1 per cent of global output.
The sector is now dominated by Asia, with China building nearly half of all ships launched, ahead of South Korea and Japan.
Separately, Beijing said it would suspend sanctions against US subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders.
The year-long suspension of measures against Hanwha, effective from November 10, was linked to the US halting port fees it had levied on Chinese-built and operated ships, China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement.
“In light of this (US suspension)… China has decided to suspend the relevant measures” for one year, the statement said.
AFP
