China's ZPMC has a 70% share of the crane market and the port vehicles made by the Asian company are used in over 100 nations, including U.S. ports in the of which about 80% of the cranes were produced by ZPMC. The highlights the report "U.S. Maritime Trade and Port Cybersecurity" drawn up as part of the Public-Private Analytic Exchange Program (AEP), the program promoted by the Department of U.S. Homeland Security, to assess the degree of vulnerability of the U.S. shipping system compared to port equipment and systems provided by other nations.

These percentages alone explain what the stakes are at stake by the decree signed by the president on Wednesday American Joe Biden, who has put more than 20 billions of dollars to increase infrastructure security national ports and, in particular, to supply the ports of call U.S. port workers of "safe" cranes ( of 21 February 2024). The "unsafe" cranes are the Chinese ones recently branded as such by a survey by the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between States United and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the House of Nations, U.S. representatives ( of 19 January 2024).

If Biden's announced intention to bring back to the U.S. the production of port cranes after 30 years in which the national countries had to purchase foreign means not alarming Beijing, given the time needed to implement the program, the Chinese government is evidently worried about the effects that Washington's decree could have also in the short term on the market for port equipment of the USA and, in cascade, on those of other nations. On Friday, the spokesman for Beijing's Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, pointed out that "the accusation that the cranes made in China pose a security risk is completely unfounded'. Answering a question posed by the agency "Bloomberg" on the risks associated with Chinese cranes, Ning said that the The Chinese government strongly opposes "the fact that the United States overextend the concept of national security and abuse of state power to prosecute products and companies kinesis. Turning economic and trade issues into a weapon - denounced the spokeswoman of the Chinese dicastery - will accentuate security risks in supply chains and global industrial sectors and will have a boomerang effect. The The United States must respect the principles of the market economy and fair competition and provide a fair, equitable and unequal framework. discriminatory to Chinese companies. China," he concluded, will continue to resolutely protect the rights and rights of legitimate and lawful interests of Chinese companies'.

The U.S. Ports Association, meanwhile, has In support of Washington's measure: "Ports Americans," said President and CEO of the American Association of Ports Authorities, Cary Davis - work closely with our Federal partners to maintain the highest standards both physical and IT security capabilities. We welcome with We applaud and applaud President Biden's actions that give rise to the additional power to the Coast Guard in order to keep the ports and the administration's efforts to develop domestic production capacity of key equipment'. Specifying that the maritime industry is ready and willing to encourage domestic production of port equipment, the AAPA recalled that it had drawn up a specific legislative proposal, the Crane Reshoring and National Enforcement of Supply Chain Security (CRANES), and urged Congress to present and approve this bill.

There is no doubt that the President's decree American has started a new one of many trade wars concluded and ongoing between Washington and Beijing. For now, it's a A conflict where everyone tries to pull water to their own mill. If Today, the American Association of Port Authorities applauds the federal government, and the funds it promises, Last March, the U.S. Ports Association noted that whereas even the most modern harbour cranes are not currently 'in a able to trace the origin, destination or nature of the cargo' and that 'no violations have been recorded safety due to the use of cranes in U.S. ports, despite alarmist media reports." About the edition of today's "China Daily", for its part the The Chinese newspaper's U.S. correspondent pointed out that The American Ports Association has recalled that at present Cranes made in China cost half as much as other similar cranes available on the market, without specifying that the GPA had specified that the reduced cost of Chinese cranes is determined by subsidies to their production granted by Beijing. Thus The article also states that the Virginia Port Authority "has Announced that it has no intention of replacing its cranes produced by ZPMC', when in fact Cathie Vick, U.S. Port Authority official, said to national newspapers that "currently the Virginia Port Authority does not plan to replace the cranes produced by ZPMC.'

If for now we are playing with words, given the stakes we do not It will take a long time to get down to business.