China extends pause on 24% US tariffs but keeps 10% rate in place
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China will keep suspending an additional 24% tariff on goods imported from the US for 2 more months, while leaving a 10% blanket tariff in place, extending a trade truce that had been due to expire on Nov. 10.
The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced the move on Nov. 9. The extension takes effect at 1:01 p.m. Beijing time on Nov. 10 and formalizes an agreement reached by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at talks in Washington in September to carry the truce through to Jan. 10.
China’s Ministry of Transport also said it will keep suspending special port fees on US ships until Jan. 10. On the US side, the Office of the US Trade Representative has delayed its own Section 301 fees on China-linked vessels, along with its tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes, to the same date.
For shippers, forwarders, and carriers on the transpacific, the result is a short reprieve rather than a settlement. The costs that apply today hold for another 2 months, but the next deadline is already set.
The trade truce keeps a 10% tariff baseline in place
The arrangement dates back to October 2025, when the 2 governments agreed in Busan, South Korea, to suspend their mutual 24% levies while keeping a 10% rate. The latest announcement carries that structure forward.
US exporters selling into China therefore still face an extra 10% tariff on their goods. The suspension stops that charge from rising by a further 24 percentage points, but it does not remove the baseline cost that has been built into pricing and sourcing decisions since the truce began.
For freight markets, a stable rate matters as much as its level. Importers and exporters can plan bookings, contract negotiations, and inventory around a known cost. Sudden tariff changes tend to produce rushes of cargo ahead of deadlines and slumps afterward, which complicates capacity planning for ocean carriers, ports, and the trucking and rail networks behind them.
A 2-month window is short in shipping terms. Goods sold now may still be on the water when Jan. 10 arrives, which leaves some exporters committing to deals without knowing the rate that will apply when their cargo clears customs in China.
Port fees on US and Chinese ships stay suspended
The maritime side of the truce matters directly for carriers. Both countries have suspended fees aimed at each other’s ships, and both pauses now run to Jan. 10.
Those fees grew out of a US Section 301 investigation into China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, with China introducing its own special port fees on US ships in response. Keeping both suspended removes a cost that could otherwise fall on vessel operators and, ultimately, on the shippers who pay their freight rates.
Aligning the port fee pause with the tariff pause also ties the maritime dispute to the wider trade relationship. Whatever happens to tariffs in January may well decide what happens to port fees too.
Section 301 tariff plans could change the calculation
The bigger uncertainty sits on the US side. The US Supreme Court overturned Trump’s emergency tariffs earlier this year, and the administration plans to replace them with duties under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. China said it will watch US moves and adjust its countermeasures accordingly.
That leaves the 10% baseline exposed to changes in US policy. If new Section 301 duties are set at different levels or cover different goods, Beijing has signaled that it could respond in kind.
Tensions remain on other fronts. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer spoke with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng last week about Beijing’s recent actions and its commitments under the Busan deal. Greer’s office said he stressed the need for China to take “concrete actions” on agricultural purchases, rare earths, and other critical minerals.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet at the APEC gathering in Shenzhen later this month, which would be their third summit this year. That meeting could give the clearest signal yet of whether the truce becomes something more durable or simply rolls forward again.
For now, transpacific shippers have a firm date to plan around. What they do not have is any assurance about the tariff rate, the port fee regime, or the US duties that will apply after Jan. 10.
Source
Bloomberg
