Trump, Xi agree to pause dueling port fees that disrupted trade

By Lisa Baertlein and David Lawder

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. and China agreed on Thursday to pause tit-for-tat fees on each other’s ships that became a major irritant in the broader trade war between the world’s two largest economies and pushed up ocean freight costs.

The move provides a 12-month reprieve on an estimated $3.2 billion annually in fees for large Chinese-built vessels sailing to U.S. ports and was among the trade deals reached in South Korea by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Early this year, the Trump administration announced plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country’s grip on the global maritime industry and bolster U.S. shipbuilding.

The so-called Section 301 penalties followed a U.S. probe that conclu