USTR Proposes Extending the China Port Fee Truce Through January 9, 2027
The US Trade Representative has published a Federal Register proposal to suspend Section 301 maritime fees on China-linked vessels and Chinese cranes for two more months, from November 10 through January 9, 2027, giving operators a window to finalize vessel deployment plans before comments close on October 30.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has formally proposed a further two-month suspension of the Section 301 actions targeting China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, according to a notice filed with the Federal Register and reported by Seatrade Maritime and PortNews. The proposed window runs from 00:00 US Eastern Time on November 10, 2026 to 23:59 on January 9, 2027, immediately following the current one-year suspension that expires at the end of November 9. During the extension no party would accrue liability for the transport service fees or associated product duties.
The suspension covers the maritime transport service fees under Annexes I, II and III of the action, which hit Chinese vessel owners and operators, operators of Chinese-built ships and foreign-built vehicle carriers, as well as the additional 100 percent duties under Annex V.A on Chinese ship-to-shore gantry cranes, intermodal chassis and certain subassemblies. When the fees were originally set to take effect, Chinese-built containerships arriving in the United States faced charges of 18 dollars per net ton or 120 dollars per container discharged, whichever was higher.
For yards and owners the extension changes near-term economics rather than the investment picture. USTR framed the pause as allowing further negotiation with China on the practices at issue, and opened a compressed comment window running to 17:00 Eastern on October 30 under docket USTR-2026-0694. PortNews notes the proposal has not yet been adopted and that the USTR notice does not state whether China will extend its own reciprocal suspension of fees on US-linked ships, which also runs out on November 9. A two-month reprieve gives operators firm cost visibility for year-end and early-January voyages, but leaves newbuilding and long-term charter decisions exposed to the possibility that the fee schedule resumes in 2027 at escalated levels.