US President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order to impose fines of up to $1.5 million on Chinese-made ships docked at U.S. ports. The goal is to revitalize America's shipbuilding sector, which has just 0.1% of the global market. Could such a policy help revive the industry? Li Jiaming has more. 

DONALD TRUMP, US President "We used to make a lot of ships, we don't make them anymore very much. But we will make them very fast very soon."

LI JIAMING, CGTN Reporter "US President Donald Trump is drafting an executive order to revive America's ship-making industry."

One of the approaches, is to charge port fees to Chinese ships. The US is about to levy fines of up to $1.5 million on China-made ships or vessels from fleets that include ships made in China.

This comes after a proposal from US Trade Representative, who has wages a 301 investigation last year on the so called "unfair economic activities" by China. This has triggered strong push backs from China.

MAO NING, Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Measures such as imposing port fees and additional tariffs on cargo handling equipment are harmful to both sides."

Well, with more urgent issues in major industries such as automotive and semiconductor, why does the US narrowly focus on niche industry of shipbuilding and therefore weaponize it against China?

HUANG RENWEI, Executive Dean, Fudan Institute for Belt & Road and Global Governance "The first aspect is that the United States is facing significant financial difficulties and needs to increase its revenue. Therefore, it has utilized all possible channels to boost its income. The second aspect is related to geopolitical considerations. The U.S. aims to control the world's major shipping routes and key ports."

This is not the first time that the US wants to revitalize its shipping industry. Let's take a look back.

The U.S. government enacted a federal law called The Jones Act, which requires that goods shipped between U.S. ports be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

It was launched in 1920s to revitalize the U.S. maritime shipping industry, which had been depleted after World War I. By prohibiting foreign vessels from participating in coastal shipping between U.S. ports, The Jones Act has granted U.S. shipping companies a monopoly on domestic maritime commerce. But now, this insufficient competition has led to higher prices and less innovation within the industry.

MICHAEL PILLSBURY, Former Pentagon official "There was a little mention of it by President Trump when he mentioned ship building, and he wants to create kind of a bureau of shipbuilding to catch up with the Chinese, who, by the way, one figure says they build three hundred ships, everyone that we built."

In 2023, the share of made-in-USA commercial ships only took up 0.1%—a tiny fraction compared to the nearly 50% of ships made in China. Now, the US shipbuilding capacity is less than 1 million tons, compared to China's 40 million tons. Additionally, labor costs in the US are four times higher than those in China. This long-forgotten industry in the US is also faced with a fragmented supply chain and thin infrastructure.

JOHN ANTHONY QUELCH, British-American academic "If the United States wants to become a leader in commercial shipbuilding, that's gonna take a lot of effort to rehabilitate shipbuilding yards, but also to train an army of workers who currently, maybe some years ago they used to work in the shipbuilding, but those skill sets of perhaps long been a forgotten."

Imposing port fees on Chinese ships and taking a tough stance on China may be a convenient way to shift public attention away from urgent domestic problems, but history has shown that monopolizing an industry by excluding competitors would only backfire in the end.