The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board bonked the Trump administration Friday evening over its latest move to "whack Americans."
The Trump administration on Thursday announced new fees on Chinese-built and Chinese-owned ships docking at U.S. ports. The fees are part of a broader effort to weaken China's dominance in shipbuilding and maritime transport, after U.S. trade officials concluded that China’s shipbuilding sector benefited from unfair competitive advantages.
But the Journal's editors weren't too thrilled with the prospect.
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"President Trump whacked Americans with another tax late Thursday as his Administration announced new fees on Chinese ships docking at U.S. ports," the board wrote, even as Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, "somewhat eased his previous draconian proposal to dun Chinese shipping companies and all carriers that use Chinese-built vessels each time they make a stop at a U.S. port."
The Journal said Trump's revised plan will "still create enormous headaches and costs for U.S. businesses and customers."
That's because Chinese-run ships will face charges of $50 per net ton on each trip to the United States beginning in mid-October. That will increase to $140 in three years. Additionally, even non-Chinese carriers using ships built by that country face fees of $18 initially, and that, too, will rise.
"Because Chinese ships make up a large and growing share of the global fleet, carriers will invariably pass on the costs to customers," the Journal warned.
The board concluded, "None of this industrial policy is likely to make American shipbuilding great again. Like the tariffs, they will be a deadweight on the U.S. economy."
