Overview
- Both governments implemented reciprocal one-year suspensions of special port fees effective Monday, easing costs for vessels calling at each other’s ports.
- The U.S. Trade Representative halted its Section 301 action on China’s maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, and China paused its own probe of the U.S. measures, with both sides reserving the right to restart them before expiry.
- China’s Ministry of Commerce suspended countermeasures on five U.S.-linked subsidiaries of South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean as part of the coordinated steps.
- Related moves reported alongside the fee pause included U.S. adjustments to fentanyl‑related tariffs and Chinese easing of certain export controls on critical materials.
- Shippers welcomed greater cost certainty and supply‑chain stability, while U.S. Democrats, labor unions, and security voices criticized the pause as weakening leverage over Beijing.