President Donald Trump’s aggressive barrage of policies — from cutting federal staffing to shuttering offices and imposing fees on Chinese ships — has sent shock waves through an industry he’s repeatedly signaled he wants to revive: coal.
One policy would slap up to $1.5 million in fees on each ship built in China that enters a U.S. port, a move that’s generating concern for both mining companies and the nation’s largest union representing coal miners, the United Mine Workers of America.
UMWA warned Tuesday that the proposal is one of a handful of policies the Trump administration is pursuing that could degrade coal sales and hurt workers, in an online post titled, “Is There Now a War on Coal Miners?”
“This proposal is designed to help rebuild the American shipbuilding industry over years, and we support that principle,” wrote UMWA International President Cecil Roberts. “But today, most exported U.S. coal is carried on Chinese-made ships. This proposal will add such significant costs to exported coal as to make it uncompetitive in the global marketplace. Mines will close and thousands will be laid off — and soon.”
