Trump Administration Proposes New Cargo Fees On Imports

As the Washington, D.C.-based newspaper Roll Call reported, the Trump administration has proposed a new set of cargo taxes on imports into the United States. The proposal is part of a sweeping plan to revitalize domestic commercial shipbuilding capacity and port infrastructure. It would impose new fees on all foreign-built commercial vessels that bring merchandise into U.S. ports that would be assessed based on the weight of imported tonnage.

The Trump administration did not specify the rate of tax, but did offer a range of possibilities, from a one-cent-per-kilogram tax that would raise $66 billion in revenue over a decade to a 25-cent tax that would raise $1.5 trillion over the same time period. The revenue would be used to establish a new Maritime Security Trust Fund that would be used for shipbuilding investment and to support U.S. merchant marine and workforce development.

The administration also proposed a new Land Port Maintenance Tax that would be similar to the existing Harbor Maintenance Tax. (Cargo ships entering U.S. seaports are currently subject to a 0.125 percent tax on the merchandise value, which is used to fund harbor and channel dredging and other Army Corps of Engineers waterways maintenance projects, Roll Call noted.) The White House outline, available at this link, also called on Congress to approve tax incentives that would lower the after-tax cost of vessel construction and shipyard investments.