A coalition of American labor unions, along with elected officials have filed a petition to start an investigation over the People’s Republic of China’s government-subsidized maritime fleet, claiming the communist nation’s efforts to dominate world maritime trade is aimed at destroying America’s maritime sector.
United States Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Bob Casey (D-PA) cosigned a 137-page petition with five labor unions, including the Maritime Trades Department, demanding that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai take action.
“When we make things in America, we build strong supply chains, create good-paying jobs, and can keep our country safe. Over the last two decades, China has tried to rig the system with unfair trade practices in the shipbuilding industry – hurting American workers, American shipbuilders, and our national security,” said Senator Baldwin on March 12. “Today, we’re standing with American workers and calling on the Biden Administration to quickly investigate China’s anti-competitive practices and help level the playing field.”
“On a level playing field, American workers can out-compete anyone. That’s why Senator Baldwin and I are leading the effort in Congress to push the Biden Administration to investigate and impose tariffs on the Chinese Communist Party’s shipbuilding industry,” said Senator Casey. “To protect the American steel industry, our workers, and our jobs, we’ve got to crack down and hold China accountable.”
The complaint contends China’s maritime strategy has contributed to America’s diminished commercial fleet and domestic shipbuilding. Because of billions of dollars government subsidies, China can produce over 1,000 ocean-going vessels a year, while the United States currently produces fewer than ten. While shipbuilding capacity, suppliers, and shipyards remain vital to the U.S. economy and national security, the PRC’s uncompetitive trade practices have led to 25,000 domestic shipbuilding suppliers leaving the U.S. market over the past 20 years, the petition stated.
The lack of American ships in international trade has also resulted in the shortage of merchant mariners in America, which has become a national security issue, the petition stated.
The formal petition requests that Rep. Tai impose a port fee on Chinese-built ships that dock at a U.S. port, as well as create a Shipbuilding Revitalization Fund to help the domestic industry and its workers compete, and other measures to stimulate demand for, and the capacity to construct, commercial vessels built in the United States.
The entire petition can be viewed here.