China’s dominance of this infrastructure at U.S. ports raises serious concerns about adversarial surveillance, remote interference, and strategic control over commercial systems—directly threatening the U.S. industrial base, national security, and daily commerce.
In a new comment letter submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), SAFE’s Coalition for Reimagined Mobility (ReMo) expresses strong support for the Section 301 investigation urging increased tariffs on Chinese-made ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and cargo handling equipment that originates in China, contains Chinese IT components, or is assembled in China.
ReMo outlines how China’s dominance in maritime infrastructure poses critical national security and surveillance risks and recommends targeted enhancements to the tariff action to close loopholes and ensure that embedded sensors, software, and IT components from entities of concern are effectively addressed.
Limiting foreign access to key communication and data systems in critical infrastructure is imperative. This investigation represents a necessary step toward targeted decoupling from Chinese dependence and advancing more secure, resilient supply chains. These recommendations build on ReMo’s broader work to secure transportation systems from foreign control and cyber intrusion.
Read ReMo’s full comments here.
