Krishnamoorthi, Garamendi Press Trump Administration on Suspension of Shipbuilding Protections Against China

WASHINGTON – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, and Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, today sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) expressing profound concern over the Trump Administration’s decision to suspend key measures designed to counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) anticompetitive shipbuilding practices.

The lawmakers noted that President Trump’s decision to grant Beijing a one-year pause on the implementation of Section 301 port fees for PRC vessels represents “a significant backtracking on recent bipartisan efforts to reinvigorate this critical American industry.” The pause, they continue, appears to have been granted “without any meaningful commitments from Beijing on terminating its nonmarket practices in the shipbuilding sector.”

Krishnamoorthi and Garamendi warned that weakening these measures jeopardizes progress on rebuilding this critical industry in the United States. 

The lawmakers underscored that the USTR’s Section 301 investigation found the PRC has “employed increasingly aggressive and specific targets in pursuing dominance of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors,” severely disadvantaging U.S. workers and companies. They stressed that these findings “cannot be a bargaining chip to simply trade away in negotiations with Beijing” and that these protective measures are the result of years of work from unions, American industry, and policymakers from both political parties. 

Krishnamoorthi and Garamendi requested detailed answers from OMB and USTR on the Administration’s approach to shipbuilding negotiations with the PRC, including:

1. What meaningful concessions the Administration secured from the PRC in exchange for delaying Section 301 implementation.
2. The Administration’s negotiating strategy regarding the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, including objectives, timelines, benchmarks, and enforcement mechanisms.
3. How the U.S. will ensure these negotiations do not delay rebuilding the domestic shipbuilding base, including U.S. shipyards and suppliers.
4. How cooperation with allies such as Korea and Japan will complement—rather than substitute for—U.S. shipbuilding capacity.
5. Plans to ensure stable funding for the U.S. maritime industry in the absence of port fee revenue.

“This reactive concession undermines this Administration’s stated intention to rebuild an industry vital to our economic and national security,” the Members concluded. “Willingly engaging in negotiations with Beijing while simultaneously suspending enforcement diminishes our position, allows for continued PRC dominance, and endangers U.S. progress.”

The letter is available HERE.