As a precarious trade agreement between the superpowers continues to develop, China announced on Monday that it would suspend “special port fees” on US ships for a year “simultaneously” with Washington’s suspension on levies targeting Chinese ships.
Following a meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump last month in South Korea, the United States and China, who have been embroiled in a turbulent trade and tariff battle for months, decided to reverse certain punitive measures.
Trade between the two biggest economies in the world was hampered and global supply lines were snarled at one point when levies on both sides had reached unaffordable triple-digit levels.
According to a statement from the transport ministry, the suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships manufactured or operated in the United States that visited Chinese ports, started at 13:01 (05:01 GMT) on Monday.
After the Second World War, the US shipbuilding sector dominated the world market, but it has since steadily dropped to make up only 0.1% of the total.
Asia now dominates the industry, with China producing about half of all ships launched, surpassing both South Korea and Japan.
Beijing also announced that it would lift penalties against US companies of one of the biggest shipbuilders in South Korea, Hanwha Ocean.
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.
China had imposed sanctions on five US subsidiaries of Hanwha in October, accusing them of supporting a US government “Section 301” investigation that found Beijing’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry unreasonable.
Organisations and individuals in China had been banned from cooperating with Hanwha Shipping LLC, Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc., Hanwha Ocean USA International LLC, Hanwha Shipping Holdings LLC and HS USA Holdings Corp.
The transport ministry also said that a planned inquiry into whether the Section 301 investigation affected the “security and development interests” of China’s shipbuilding sector and supply chain had been postponed for a year.
Since the Xi-Trump meeting, the suspensions are the most recent indication of a thaw in business relations.
China announced on Wednesday that it would suspend some duties on soybeans and other US agricultural items and extend the postponement of additional taxes on US goods for a year, maintaining them at 10%.
Additionally, on Sunday, China lifted its export restrictions on antimony, germanium, and gallium—metals essential to contemporary technology.
Beijing also decided to lift limitations on the export of rare earth technology for a year after negotiations.
According to the Chinese commerce ministry on Wednesday, Washington agreed to lift export restrictions for a year on affiliates of foreign enterprises on the blacklist in which they held at least a 50% ownership.
