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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    Live Online with Live Q&A

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Commercial Law

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, June 24, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will discuss the recent action of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) concerning U.S. port entry fees with respect to Chinese-operated, -owned, and -built vessels and non-U.S. built vehicle carriers, which is expected to affect all businesses up and down the supply chain in every industry that relies on international shipping. The panel will review the action’s requirement that an increasing percentage of U.S. LNG maritime exports take place using U.S.-built, -flagged and -operated vessels. The panel will review the action, the basis for the action, how the USTR’s action differs from its earlier proposed action, the important issues not addressed by the USTR’s action, the action’s relation to Executive Order No. 14269 on “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” and the recently proposed SHIPS for America Act, who will bear the cost of the new port service fees, and how shipowners, charterers, operators, freight forwarders and shippers, and the LNG shipping and U.S. shipbuilding industries, are responding to the USTR’s action.

Faculty

Emily Huggins Jones
Partner
Troutman Pepper Locke Llp - Washington

Ms. Jones advises companies at the intersection of maritime and environmental law. She also provides comprehensive counsel to offshore wind developers, port and terminal developers, supply chain companies, and vessel owners/operators in the renewable energy and maritime sectors. Ms. Jones routinely provides counsel regarding compliance with the Jones Act and related U.S. cabotage laws, as well as counseling on life cycle documentation for vessels operating in U.S. waters. This includes shipbuilding contracts, vessel financings, U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection documentation, charter parties, and BIMCOs. She also regularly advises on shipping and logistics contracting and regulatory compliance.

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John F. Imhof
Shareholder
Vedder Price

Mr. Imhof Jr. is a Shareholder and a member of the firm’s Global Transportation Finance team. He focuses his practice on maritime and transportation finance. Mr. Imhof has more than 30 years of experience advising lenders, lessors, investors, borrowers and lessees in the domestic and cross-border financing of transportation and logistics assets, including ships, shipping containers, aircraft, railroad rolling stock and related infrastructure. His experience involves a variety of facilities and financing techniques, including syndicated senior secured loan facilities, mezzanine and subordinated loan facilities, letter-of-credit facilities, single-investor leases, leveraged leases, sale-leaseback transactions and restructurings. Mr. Imhof also advises investors in connection with a variety of investments in maritime and transportation assets, including investments in existing companies, the formation of joint ventures and the acquisition of distressed debt. His clients include leading banks, hedge funds, private equity funds, shipowners, airlines and rail transportation companies. From 2020 to 2024, Mr. Imhof was recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the Transport: Shipping—Finance category. In 2023 and 2024, The Legal 500 United States recognized him as a Leading Lawyer in the Transport: Shipping—Finance category.

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Description

On April 17, 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced its final action to restore American shipbuilding and address China's unreasonable acts, policies, and practices to dominate the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. The action follows the USTR’s investigation, commenced a year earlier pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, which determined that China has been targeting the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors for dominance through policies that are unreasonable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce. This determination set the stage for the USTR’s April 17 action to address these acts, policies and practices pursuant to Section 304(c) of Trade Act. The final action follows the publication of the USTR’s proposed action on February 21, 2025, and its consideration of extensive comments from the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries. 

According to the USTR’s press release announcing the final action, the final action will, with specified exceptions, impose service fees on Chinese operators of vessels calling on U.S. ports, the operators of Chinese-owned and -built vessels calling on U.S. ports, and the operators of foreign-built vehicle carrier vessels calling on U.S. ports. The final action will also require that an increasing percentage of U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exported by vessel be exported onboard vessels that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged and U.S.-operated.

The USTR’s action is likely to have a significant effect on U.S. international shipping. More than half of all worldwide newbuild vessel tonnage is now built in Chinese shipyards and a significant number of vessels are Chinese-operated or -owned, including through sale-leaseback financing arrangements with Chinese leasing companies. The USTR action is likely to have long-lasting and significant effects on how shipowners, charterers and operators manage their fleets and how freight forwarders and shippers conduct their businesses. The United States is also the world’s largest exporter of LNG and the USTR’s final action is likely to have a significant impact on both U.S. shipbuilding and the U.S. maritime export of LNG in the years to come. 

Listen as this experienced panel of transportation and trade lawyers discusses the USTR's actions and how parties can protect themselves now and in the future.

Outline

  1. Statutory and procedural basis for the USTR action
  2. Provisions of the action
  3. How parties will be impacted by the action
  4. Comparison with the provisions of the USTR’s original proposed action
  5. Important issues not addressed by the USTR’s action
  6. The action’s relationship to Executive Order No. 14269 on “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” and the proposed SHIPS for America Act
  7. Who will bear the cost of the new U.S. port service fees
  8. The response of shipowners, charterers, operators, freight forwarders and shippers to the USTR’s port service fees
  9. The response of the LNG shipping and U.S. shipbuilding industries to the USTR action’s requirements relating to the maritime export of U.S. LNG on U.S.-built, -flagged and -operated vessels
  10. Other considerations

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • On what basis did the USTR take its April 17 action?
  • Who will be impacted by the USTR’s action and how?
  • How does the USTR’s final April 17 action differ from its February 21 proposed action and why?
  • What are the important issues not addressed by the USTR’s action?
  • How does the USTR’s action relate to Executive Order No. 14269 on “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance” and the proposed SHIPS for America Act?
  • Who will bear the cost of the new U.S. port service fees?
  • How are ship owners, charterers, operators, freight forwarders and shippers responding to the USTR’s new U.S. port service fees?
  • How will the LNG shipping and U.S. shipbuilding industries respond to the USTR action’s requirements relating to the maritime export of U.S. LNG on U.S.-built, -flagged and -operated vessels?