US, China to roll out collecting port fees on each other's vessels -- Reuters

The United States (US) and China on Tuesday will begin charging additional port fees on ocean shipping companies that transport everything from holiday toys to crude oil, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The US is scheduled to start collecting fees on October 14.

China said it had started to collect the special taxes on US-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels, but stated that Chinese-built ships would be exempted from the levies. Last week, China hit back at Washington, saying it would impose its own port fees on US-linked vessels from the same day.  

Additionally, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday that China has taken countermeasures against five US-linked subsidiaries of the South Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha Ocean. 

"Hanwha Ocean's U.S.-related subsidiaries have assisted and supported the U.S. government's relevant investigative activities, thereby jeopardizing China's sovereignty, security, and developmental interests," the statement said.

Market reaction

At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair is trading 0.53% lower on the day to trade at 0.6480.