USTR could ease some Section 301 measures on Chinese maritime dominance

USTR

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR) announcement that it would take sweeping measures under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, began a process that included taking into account public comments on its proposed actions.

Details of the proposed measures were unveiled in a February Federal Register notice (see earlier story) and were not greeted kindly by an international shipping industry that has invested heavily in Chinese built tonnage.

On June 6, USTR announced a new public comment process “to consider proposed modifications to certain aspects of Annexes III and IV” of the February Federal Register notice.

The modifications to the Section 301 actions are contained in a new Federal Register notice that does not make for light reading.

There’s not much in the modifications to cause cheering in either Chinese shipyards or the offices of shipowners with largely Chinese-built ships.

As ever the devil is in the details, but proposed changes affecting car carriers include basing fees on net tonnage, not car equivalent units (CEUs) and sparing U.S.-flagged and U.S.-owned vessels enrolled in the Maritime Security Program (MSP) from the proposed fees, along with U.S. Government ships and U.S. Government cargoes.

On LNG carrier requirements, the main proposed change is to remove the threat of cancelation of LNG export licenses for failure to meet the requirement for an increasing proportion of U.S. LNG exports to be carried on U.S-flagged, U.S.-built LNG carriers, rising from 1% in 2028 to 15% in 2047.

On reporting, the proposed modification would require that the vessel operator (not the terminal operator) report to DOE the amount of maritime LNG exports shipments and percentage of LNG shipped, carried on U.S.-built and U.S.-operated vessels and the amount of LNG carried on foreign-built and foreign-operated vessels.

The deadline for submission of comments is July 7, 2025.

• Download the new Federal Register notice HERE