The BIG Deal

Oct 31st, 2025:What does the US-China trade deal mean for tankers? Over the last 8 months, we have written several Opinions about the U.S. port fees on Chinese owned and built ships. In February, when these fees were first proposed, we wrote ‘Chinese Shipping in The Crosshairs’; followed by several updates as the fees and exemptions were amended in reaction to public comments (e.g. ‘Make America Build Ships Again’) and most recently earlier this month when China announced a similar structure against U.S. owned and built ships in ‘When the Ships Hit The Fan’. This week, the playing field changed again as negotiations between the U.S. and China have resulted in a one year truce in the trade disputes between the two countries. The deal includes a suspension of the U.S. port fees and as a result also the suspension of the Chinese fees on U.S. owned and operated ships. Please fill in below form to continue read.