Tuesday, November 10, 2026
The news that moves freight
Trade & Customs Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min read

Beijing matches Washington’s two-month truce, and adds a warning on Section 301

Tracker US tariff rates by country · 7.1 %

China holds its 24% tariff to 10 January, then tells Washington exactly what would end the truce

China will keep its extra 24% tariff on US goods suspended for two more months. The State Council Tariff Commission announced the move on 9 November. The pause takes effect at 13:01 China time on 10 November according to the Ministry of Finance notice, and now runs to 10 January 2027, Seoul Economic Daily reported. The separate 10% extra duty on US goods stays.

This was Beijing’s half of a deal the two sides had already agreed. The US half came first. Washington kept its fees on China-linked ships suspended and moved to extend 178 Section 301 tariff exclusions on Chinese goods, Supply Chain Dive reported.

Our view: the extension itself is the least interesting part of the 9 November package. The interesting part is a short paragraph at the end. In it, China said what would make it move before 10 January. That paragraph is about Section 301, and forwarders should read it as a second deadline with no date on it.

What China actually did

The Finance Ministry notice sets two rates. The 24% extra tariff on US-origin goods stays suspended for two months. The 10% extra tariff stays in force. For a US exporter, Chinese customs adds 10% on top of normal duties until 10 January. If the pause ends, it adds 34%.

The Commerce Ministry (MOFCOM) moved in step. Its spokesperson said China would keep suspended, for two more months, the measures in Announcement No. 21 of 2025. That announcement put 16 US entities on China’s export-control list and barred them from receiving dual-use items, meaning goods with both civil and military uses. MOFCOM said the step implements the consensus from the eighth round of China-US economic and trade talks. Exporters who still want to ship dual-use items to those firms must apply for a licence.

Seoul Economic Daily, citing the 9 November decisions, listed the rest. The firms on the export-control list include Universal Logistics Holdings. Measures against 11 firms on China’s “unreliable entity” list are also suspended, among them the drone maker Skydio. Tighter export controls on superhard materials, some rare-earth equipment and raw materials, heavy rare-earth metals, battery lithium and graphite, and rare-earth technology are postponed to 10 January.

Then there is shipping. China had sanctioned five US units of Hanwha Ocean, the Korean shipbuilder, over their cooperation with the US Section 301 probe into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors. Those are Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Hanwha Shipping, Hanwha Ocean USA International, Hanwha Shipping Holdings and HS USA Holdings. Seoul Economic Daily reports those sanctions are suspended for two more months as well.

The paragraph that matters

Section 301 of the 1974 US Trade Act lets the US Trade Representative (USTR) impose duties in response to foreign practices it finds unfair. It is the law behind the long-running tariffs on Chinese goods and the 2025 ship fees. Unlike IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act), it needs no national security finding and has no legal cap on rates, Global Trade Alert notes.

That matters because IEEPA tariffs are gone. The US Supreme Court struck them down on 20 February 2026, according to Global Trade Alert. USTR Jamieson Greer then named Section 301 as one of the tools to carry the tariff agenda forward. On 11 March 2026 USTR opened an excess-capacity investigation covering 16 jurisdictions, Global Trade Alert reports. China is among them, according to a July report by The National News Desk.

Beijing has now put that on record. In the Finance Ministry text, China says it has noted that the US has said several times it plans to use Section 301 tariffs to replace the IEEPA tariffs the court voided. In Seoul Economic Daily’s English translation, the commission said it was “taking note of the U.S. statement that it plans to replace tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act”. It added it would “closely monitor follow-up U.S. actions and adjust related retaliatory tariff measures at an appropriate time”. The paper notes the text was translated by AI and the wording may differ from the original.

Our reading: China is telling Washington that a new Section 301 duty is the same as an old IEEPA duty under a new name. If one arrives, Beijing feels free to reset its own tariffs, truce or no truce. That turns every US Section 301 step on China into a possible trigger, not just 10 January.

Washington’s tone is not warm either. Greer spoke with Vice Premier He Lifeng by video on 6 November. He pressed China to follow through on farm purchases, rare earths and other critical minerals, Supply Chain Dive reported. The USTR readout did not mention the truce or the extension.

What happened last time

Each side has been here before. After the Trump-Xi trade summit in late 2025, both paused their measures for a year, from 10 November 2025 to 9 November 2026. US port fees had started on 14 October 2025. Watson Farley & Williams told clients that “there is no provision for refund of fees incurred for port calls between October 14 and November 9, 2025.” Shippers who paid in that window ate the cost.

China’s Ministry of Transport suspended its own special port charges on US-linked ships “for one year from 1301hrs on 10 November 2025”, the London P&I Club said. That year has now run out. The 9 November statements, as reported by Seoul Economic Daily and Supply Chain Dive, do not say what happens to those charges. Tradlinx had already flagged the gap in October. It said the US notice does not cover China’s fees and urged shippers to watch for a Ministry of Transport announcement.

The process has also been fast before. In November 2025 USTR proposed suspending the maritime action with roughly one day for public comment, Global Trade Alert noted. Both sides can move at short notice, in either direction.

What forwarders should do now

US exports to China. Price at 10% extra Chinese duty for goods cleared before 10 January. For anything that lands after that, quote both cases, 10% and 34%, or add a clause that passes on any tariff change. Ag, chemicals and industrial parts are the obvious exposure.

China-linked vessels into the US. The US fees on China-linked ships stay suspended until 10 January 2027, Supply Chain Dive reported. The schedule sits at $80 per net ton for Chinese-operated and Chinese-owned ships. For Chinese-built ships under other operators it is the higher of $23 per net ton or $153 per container discharged, Tradlinx says. Record the vessel for each US-bound leg at booking. Ask carriers in writing how they would bill any restart.

US-linked vessels into China. Ask carriers now whether China’s special port charges are still suspended after 10 November. Get the answer in writing.

Battery and magnet supply chains. Graphite, lithium and heavy rare-earth controls are postponed, not cancelled. Customers who source these from China have two months of cover, not a permanent fix. Some may pull orders forward into December.

Timing. The 10 January cliff lands less than four weeks before Lunar New Year on 6 February 2027, Tradlinx notes. If the truce lapses, a tariff jump, port-fee restarts and pre-holiday space shortages could hit together.

Our call

Our prediction: USTR will publish a proposal to extend both the 178 exclusions and the ship-fee and crane suspension by 24 December 2026, after the G20 meeting in Miami. We expect final notices before 9 January 2027. We expect Beijing to match it within days again, keeping the 24% suspended. If the Miami meeting produces a signed deal on farm goods and rare earths, we expect the next extension to run for at least six months, not two.

If no US proposal has appeared by 24 December, plan for the ship fees and full exclusion duties to apply from 10 January. Plan for China’s 24% to return the same day, taking the stack on US goods to 34%.

One more call, ours alone. If USTR imposes any new Section 301 duty on Chinese goods before 10 January, we expect China to answer with its own tariff change within two weeks, whatever the truce dates say.

Sources

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