Blank Rome recently shared that partners Keith B. Letourneau and Domingo Manuel LLagostera have been selected as finalists in the 2025 Texas Legal Awards presented by Texas Lawyer. In this Q&A honoree profile, Keith B. Letourneau, co-chair of the firm's Maritime practice group, shares insights on his career and practicing maritime law in Texas.
For Texas attorneys, what have been the biggest issues in maritime law over the past few years?
Certainly in 2025, the most challenging issues for the maritime industry in Texas are the impact of tariffs and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Section 301 action to impose service fees on Chinese built vessels transporting goods into the United States, which takes effect in October 2025. Both will impact the import and export of goods into and out of Texas, which is roughly the world’s ninth largest economy. Many U.S. based companies have Chinese-built ships within their fleets. The service fees and tariffs will make it more difficult for U.S. based companies to compete in the global marketplace, will make U.S. goods more costly and less competitive, and likely drive up the cost of goods to consumers and increase inflation. At the same time, the proposed SHIPS Act in Congress has the potential for altering the trajectory of maritime shipbuilding in the United States and develop a new industrial infrastructure that will support significant ancillary industries. All of this is intertwined with the push over the last few years, primarily through the International Maritime Organization and the European Union to reduce maritime vessel emissions worldwide, which also has the effect of increasing the cost of transportation of goods by sea. Of course, the foregoing does not include the annual adventures dodging hurricanes on the Gulf Coast and dealing with the aftermath in the maritime realm. All in all, we are living through dynamic times that heighten the importance of maritime commerce, which supports about 25% of the Texas economy.
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“Maritime Attorney of the Year Finalist: Keith Letourneau, Blank Rome,” was published in Texas Lawyer on September 12, 2025.