Sponsors (17)
Official title: To require the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State to monitor efforts by the People’s Republic of China to build or buy strategic foreign ports, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 27, 2025 by Bill Huizenga · Last progress May 22, 2025
The bill gives federal and state policymakers better, regularly updated visibility into ports tied to PRC actors—improving national-security planning and options to secure supply chains—at the cost of added federal expense, potential operational disruption for ports and businesses, and risks that public disclosures or designations could reveal vulnerabilities or strain diplomacy.
Federal, state, and congressional policymakers will receive a consolidated, updated unclassified inventory and vulnerability assessment of ports linked to PRC actors (with a classified annex), enabling better oversight, supply-chain protection, and military access planning.
Federal leaders will get options and cost estimates to secure, replace, or mitigate reliance on PRC-owned port infrastructure, supporting targeted budgeting, funding decisions, and incentives.
Diplomatic and defense personnel near ports will benefit from assessments of cyber and electronic espionage threats, informing protective measures for U.S. staff and facilities abroad.
Public unclassified disclosures and published lists of ports and vulnerabilities could reveal sensitive information that adversaries might exploit, endangering personnel and operations.
Preparing the mapping, conducting studies, and implementing recommended mitigations will require federal resources and potentially new funding or incentives, increasing costs for taxpayers and agencies.
Actions to block, replace, or restrict PRC-owned logistics products and formal 'strategic' designations could disrupt port operations, raise shipping costs, and cause delays that harm port workers, shippers, and small businesses.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires State (with Defense) to map strategic ports, assess PRC influence and vulnerabilities, and deliver an unclassified report (with possible classified annex) with strategy and cost estimates to Congress within a year.
Requires the Secretary of State, working with the Secretary of Defense, to identify and map foreign and domestic ports that are strategically important to U.S. military, diplomatic, economic, or resource-exploration interests and to identify efforts by the People’s Republic of China or PRC-linked entities to gain control or influence over those ports. It also directs an interagency study on vulnerabilities, PRC activities, threat assessments (including cyber/electronic espionage), and options for U.S. responses, with an unclassified report (and optional classified annex) to Congress within one year. The law names the congressional committees to receive the products, lists relevant U.S. Government offices to coordinate the work, permits use of federally funded research centers, and requires recommended strategies, cost estimates, and mechanisms for keeping the strategic ports list current.