House GOP rolling out bill to block China from accessing US ports

GOP Rep. Michelle Steel is rolling out a bill to block China and other American adversaries from accessing U.S. ports.

Steel, R-Calif., a member of the House Select Committee on Communist China, created the Secure Our Ports Act, which would prohibit companies owned fully, or in-part, by state-owned enterprises in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from operating or managing a U.S. port. 

Steel told Fox News Digital that adversaries accessing U.S. ports can harm U.S. supply chains because it would enable them to access shipping infrastructure. 

Steel said her bill ‘would shore up America’s economic and national security in the face of threats from Communist China and their like-minded allies.’ 

‘Congress must protect America’s supply chains by restricting enemy governments from having high-level access to our ports,’ Steel told Fox News Digital. ‘Nations which threaten the very existence of the United States should not have easy access to our port infrastructure, a key lifeline of America’s supply chains.’

Steel’s home region in Southern California is home to two of the largest ports in the country: the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. 

Steel’s office told Fox News Digital that multiple China-owned conglomerates have an active presence in American ports, including on the West Coast. This includes the Chinese-Owned Shipping Company (COSCO) on the West Coast and China Oil and Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO) on the Mississippi River.

The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Stephanie Bice, Ken Calvert, Rick Crawford, Richard Hudson, Doug LaMalfa, Nicole Malliotakis, James Moylan, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, John Rutherford and Randy Weber.

The bill comes after national security and defense officials last year began viewing giant cargo cranes at U.S. ports as potential Chinese spying tools. Officials have suggested that Chinese equipment and cranes at ports could be used for surveillance.