Confirmation has also come from Beijing of the intention to preserve the trade truce reached between the US and China. Today, In fact, the Chinese government has ordered a further extension of the suspension of some of the trade and maritime measures adopted towards the United States in the context of the between the two major world powers, implementing the agreements reached in the eighth round of economic consultations and trade agreements between the two countries and the agreements reached during the last September's meeting in Washington between the respective leaders Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

The measures, announced today by the Commission for customs tariffs of the Council of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Beijing transports, provide for the postponement to January 10, 2027 of the reinstatement of measures against U.S. shipping and the Maintaining a partial suspension of duties for another two months on imports from the United States. In particular, on the China will continue to suspend customs duties for another two months the application of an additional rate of 24% on goods of US origin. However, the duty will remain in force additional 10%. The measure concerns the additional component tariffs introduced as part of China's response to the American commercial initiatives and is therefore not equivalent to a complete elimination of duties on imports from United States.

For the maritime sector, the Decision takes on a particular importance. The Ministry of Transport in Beijing, in fact, extended the suspension of tariffs until 10 January 2027 special port applicable to ships connected to the United States. At the same time, the investigation will continue to be suspended on the effects of US security policies and on the development interests of the maritime industry, the shipbuilding and related supply chains.

These are two measures that were introduced in 2025 in the framework of the Chinese response to Washington's initiatives against the maritime and shipbuilding sector. Their suspension therefore, at least for the moment, avoids the application of charges to the ships concerned and the continuation of a discussion institutional that could have further fueled the tensions between the two maritime industries.

Last September, Trump and Jinping agreed to work towards a reciprocal reduction of duties on a single volume of about 60 billion dollars of goods, through a more favourable tariff treatment of €30 billion dollars of non-sensitive products exported by each country. Among the sectors concerned include, for US exports to the China, agricultural products, fish, timber, cosmetics and devices doctors, while on the Chinese side are included, among others, toys, household items and consumer products. The agreement aims to reduce the effects of protectionist measures that in the recent years have progressively increased the bilateral trade. The confrontation had taken on dimensions particularly relevant in 2025, with the re-election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, when Washington and Beijing had intensified the imposition of tariffs on each other levels, reaching levels that significantly compromise trade flows and fuel business concerns international associations.

The suspension of the additional rates of the 24% on the Chinese side is therefore an important element of the truce, but does not represent a cancellation of the Retaliation. Beijing retains an additional 10% tariff on affected U.S. goods and the Tariff Commission of the Chinese State Council explicitly warned which "will continue to closely monitor the initiatives undertaken by the United States and will adjust, if necessary, the retaliatory tariff measures'.

In particular, the Chinese Commission recalled the intention repeatedly expressed by the United States to resort to the Section 301 of the Trade Act 1974 to replace the tariffs introduced on the basis of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the law on economic powers in the event of an international emergency. The latter legal basis was in fact declared by the The U.S. Supreme Court, with its ruling of February 20, unsuitable for giving the President the power to impose duties. The However, the ruling did not eliminate the tariffs adopted on the basis of other legislative provisions, including those provided for by the Section 301, which allows Washington to react to practices commercial considered unfair. The issue is particularly delicate because the use of Section 301 could allow the US administration to maintain a significant part of the tariff pressure on China through a different legal instrument. Beijing has therefore clarified that the extension of the suspensions must not be interpreted as a renunciation of one's own prerogatives of response.

Even more directly linked to the interests of the maritime transport is the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Beijing Transports to Keep Port Fees Suspended on US ships and the investigation of the repercussions of American policies on the maritime and shipbuilding industry Chinese Government. The measure is part of the broader debate between Washington and Beijing for control of the global supply chains of the shipping, shipbuilding and logistics. In the 2025 the United States had initiated, through Section 301, an initiative against Chinese trade practices in the sectors shipbuilding, logistics and maritime transport, providing for charges for ships linked to China and additional measures on products in the supply chain, including cranes port and intermodal looms ( of 10 and 18 April and 13 October 2025).

The Chinese response had come with the introduction of special port fees for US ships and with the opening of an investigation into the effects of the American measures on the safety and development interests of the national maritime sector ( of 30 September and 10 October 2025). The suspension of these measures had already represented one of the elements of the previous détente commercial and is now further extended.

If the decisions taken in Beijing do not mean that the disputes have been resolved, since the measures are suspended and not repealed, however, the suspension takes on a meaning that goes beyond the simple reduction of port charges: it is a signal of willingness to keep negotiations open on a sector considered strategic by both governments. The shipbuilding and maritime services, in fact, have become one of the most important areas that are more sensitive to economic competition and between the two powers. For shipowners, operators shipbuilding companies, the extension constitutes therefore a positive element of predictability in the short term period. The deadline of 10 January 2027 will represent however, a new critical step, especially in the light of the decisions that the US administration will take on the possible recourse to Section 301 and possible subsequent Beijing's responses.