Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2025

This bill would create a process to identify ports and port infrastructure in Western Hemisphere free-trade partners that have been nationalized or expropriated and then bar vessels or passengers tied to those sites from U.S. ports. It would also expand Title III of the Trade Act of 1974 so U.S. persons can treat expropriation, arbitrary or capricious treatment, denial of due process, and nationality-based discrimination as unreasonable or discriminatory conduct.

• Shipping companies and passenger lines would face specific bans if a vessel was loaded at or previously held at designated prohibited property. Banned activities include importing or releasing goods, docking passenger vessels, releasing passengers, and servicing, refueling, or repairs.
• U.S. persons get a clear definition and new trade-law grounds to challenge foreign takings. "Prohibited property" covers ports and listed port infrastructure that a covered partner government seized after January 1, 2024, including sites only reachable through land owned or controlled by a U.S. person.
• The Secretary of Homeland Security, with Treasury and State, would have to identify and publish the list of prohibited property, with a 60-day deadline after enactment for that designation.