China’s stock market climbed to decade highs on Thursday as presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met for the first time in six years — with one major outcome for shipping being the suspension of new port fees both countries had introduced earlier this month.
The United States has postponed higher port charges on Chinese-built vessels, a move initially aimed at challenging Beijing’s dominance in global shipbuilding. The delay follows the rollout of reciprocal port fees by both countries on October 14, which marked the first time port charges had been used as geopolitical tools rather than traditional trade tariffs.
“We’re going to postpone that while we negotiate with them about that issue,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters aboard Air Force One following the Trump–Xi meeting in Busan on Thursday. “We’re trying to rebuild shipbuilding,” he added, signalling a desire to address the issue through dialogue rather than escalation.
The fees, introduced by both Washington and Beijing, were structured around a vessel’s ownership, operation, flag, and place of build — a design that industry players said blurred traditional definitions and created uncertainty across the maritime sector.
Marine insurer Gard noted that the lack of clarity in charterparty clauses could spark disputes over who bears the cost. “Owners will argue the fees arise because the vessel is ordered to that port, while charterers will say it’s due to the ship’s characteristics or ownership,” Gard said in an advisory.
Industry associations have already started responding. Intertanko and BIMCO have published owner-friendly clauses to address liability for the US-imposed fees, and new wording to cover China’s reciprocal charges is said to be in the works.
While the postponement offers a short-term reprieve for shipowners, it does not resolve the wider question of whether such differential port charges could become a longer-term feature of maritime trade policy. For now, the focus turns to negotiations — and whether the thaw in Busan will last long enough to calm one of the shipping industry’s newest and most unusual flashpoints, something that has already seen two of Hong Kong’s largest shipowners – Pacific Basin and Seaspan – relocate to Singapore to avoid the aggressive American fees.
