By Rene Wagner and Maria Martinez

BERLIN, July 8 (Reuters) – Germany could benefit from planned U.S. port fees ‌on merchant ships built in China, with its ‌exports to the United States potentially rising by around 2% compared with ​a scenario without fees, according to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The reason is that German freight fleets rely less on Chinese-built ‌vessels than those of ⁠some competitors, allowing German exporters to gain market share, the study found.

The U.S. government plans ⁠to introduce the fees from November in an effort to curb China’s dominance in shipbuilding, citing national security concerns. The ​charges would ​be based on where ​a vessel was built, rather ‌than whose goods it carries.

DIW said the measures would primarily hurt the U.S. itself, estimating that U.S. imports and exports would fall by 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

“The mechanism is simple,” DIW economist Sonali Chowdhry said. “The fees raise the ‌cost of intermediate inputs, U.S. manufacturers ​lose competitiveness, and weaker economic activity ​also weighs on ​demand for foreign goods.”

Within the EU, Finland, Denmark ‌and Poland would be hit ​hardest, with exports ​to the U.S. falling by 5.0%, 4.4% and 3.0%, respectively.

Emerging economies such as Costa Rica, Vietnam and ​Pakistan could see ‌U.S.-bound exports slump by nearly 9%, while South Korea ​could gain about 2%.

(Reporting by Rene Wagner and ​Maria MartinezEditing by Linda Pasquini)