European and Asian automakers have attracted attention from Donald Trump’s tariffs as Washington’s new port fee policy threatens severe damage to the American Seaborne Car Import Market and faces steeper costs.
In the transportation war between Washington and Beijing, auto operators will have to pay $150 for each car capable of shipping to the United States starting in October. According to Clarksons Research, this could be the same as an additional fee of about $1.8 billion per year in the automotive sector.
This was when the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) charged a package of fees for all non-U.S.-built ships entering U.S. ports in mid-April, which caused panic in the European, Japanese and Korean shipping industries.
Lasse Kristoffersen, CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmen, the leading vehicle transportation line, told the Financial Times that the additional fees will eventually be with automakers and other customers, and eventually "consumers will pay."
"The uncertainty is so great that you stop building cars, suspend decisions, delay exports and parts procurement," Christopherson said.
The global marine automobile trade totaled approximately US$60 billion last year, involving 836 professional ships. The new fee system will cost a large ship as much as $1.2 million per voyage, which the World Transportation Commission says can transport 8,000 cars.
Many automakers face a 25% tariff on foreign-made vehicles imported into the U.S., with groups from Audi and Jaguar Land Rover to Aston Martin stopping the shipment to the U.S. due to taxes.
Mitsui OSK Lines, the world's second largest shipowner, said it was concerned that the U.S. new port policy “could have a significant impact on the global supply chain of the automotive industry.”
Andreas Enger, CEO of Scandinavian auto operator Höegh Autoliners, said in late April that the new costs will be shared by customers. "This is uncertainty about the impact of tariffs on our customers and trade flows," he said in the company's latest earnings briefing.
Clarksons' 2024 data shows that the auto operator industry moved a record 29 million cars, of which 4.6 million were heading to the United States.
The Joe Biden administration began with the U.S. efforts to challenge China’s supreme challenge, which conducted an investigation into China’s economic practices in suspected unfair shipbuilding and maritime logistics in April last year.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers reintroduced the so-called "American Ship Act" to restart the U.S. shipbuilding industry.
According to USTR, China's shipbuilding market share has barely soared to more than 50% in 2023 from the 1990s, while China's ownership of global commercial fleets has risen to more than 19% as of the beginning of 2025.
The new measures are designed to promote domestic manufacturing of ships, but they significantly lowered fees from earlier proposals by up to $1.5 million after U.S. exporters warned of higher freight rates and ultimately rising prices for U.S. consumers.
The measures of the car operators are targeting not only Chinese but also all foreign-built vessels, so they are caught off guard and have no exemptions for the frequency of calls provided to other segments.
If the operator orders and picks up and drops a car carrier built in a U.S. yard during this period, the new fee can be delayed for three years.
"This is unrealistic. The United States has no yard to do, and the U.S. shipbuilding capacity will take up naval contracts because they will eventually be more profitable."
In the United States, there is currently only one ship in a global deep-sea vehicle fleet that is only built in the United States. One-fifth of current car operators are built in China, while Japan accounts for 47%. The United States accounts for only 0.1%.
Automakers face a problem as China accounts for 86% of new vessels ordered and under construction, Clarksons reported.
Kremke said USTR has decided to impose unrestricted fees on all car carriers, not only ships owned or operated by China, without prior notice to the industry.
Vehicle Transport Group is developing legal basis with the legal base to regulate car carriers manufactured in countries outside the U.S. and hopes that some transportation executives will want to adjust their fees before implementing it later this year.
"These measures apply to all foreign-built ships, although the USTR's purpose is to curb China's behavior in the commercial transport market. It does raise questions about whether USTR has surpassed its powers," Kremke said.
Patrick Temple-West's other reports in New York