China making 'concerted effort' to dominate critical US ports equipment, Biden official says

A top trade official at the Department of Homeland Security said in Capitol Hill testimony on Thursday that the Biden administration is concerned about the extent of Chinese manufacturing presence in critical U.S. port operations.

During a House hearing that centered on cranes operating at the ports in the United States, 80% of which are manufactured in China, representatives pressed Homeland Security and Coast Guard officials about the nation's infrastructure reliance on China, including spare parts for these cranes and how it could impact the resiliency of U.S. ports.

"We absolutely agree and we do see an overreliance on these People's Republic of China (PRC) manufacturer cranes," Christa Brzozowski, acting assistant secretary for trade and economic security at the Department of Homeland Security, told representatives on the House Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security examining the port cybersecurity threat.

The seaports move more than 99% of the cargo coming to the U.S. from overseas, with 31 million American jobs tied to the ports, which generate $5.4 trillion in economic value, representing more than a quarter of nation's economy.

In early 2023, U.S. defense officials said they were worried that Chinese ship-to-shore crane manufacturer Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. (ZPMC) could be used by Beijing as a possible spying tool, leading to more pressure on the administration from Capitol Hill. China said at the time that the concerns were "paranoia-driven."

ZPMC has not responded to CNBC's requests for comment.

The AAPA, which lobbies on behalf of the nation's major container ports, has said in the past there is no evidence to the support the claims about Chinese-manufactured crane cyber vulnerabilities,