On Oct. 23, 2026, the U.S. Trade Representative reopened the public comment docket on one of last year's biggest shipping-cost reprieves: the one-year pause on Section 301 fees targeting China's dominance of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. That suspension has held since Nov. 10, 2025, and it runs out at 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 9, 2026 — a little over two weeks from today. USTR wants to extend it, but only by two months, through Jan. 9, 2027, and it's asking for public comment first, in a window that opened Oct. 23 and closes Oct. 30, 2026.
That's a tight turnaround. USTR typically runs a 30-day comment period on a Section 301 action; this one is seven days. For any importer or DTC brand that ships by ocean — whether or not a single product you sell carries a Section 301, 232, or IEEPA duty — this is worth five minutes before the window closes.
Why it matters
These aren't duties on your goods. They're surcharges assessed on the vessel itself, charged to the ocean carrier based on who owns, operates, or built the ship — not on what's loaded aboard it or who's importing it. If the fees snap back into effect on Nov. 10, carriers are expected to pass them straight through to shippers as a line-item surcharge, the same way bunker fuel or peak-season charges get passed through today.
That means the exposure has nothing to do with your HTS classification or country of origin, and everything to do with which ship your freight forwarder books. Chinese-built tonnage makes up a large share of the global container fleet, so even a brand sourcing entirely from Vietnam or Mexico can end up on an exposed vessel. An industry-backed 2025 study estimated the fees, if fully in effect, could raise ocean shipping costs 8% to 14% (Promotional Products Association International) — costs that get baked into freight rates well before they ever show up as their own line item.
The details
The fee fight goes back to a March 2024 petition from five labor unions asking USTR to investigate China's subsidies and anticompetitive conduct in shipbuilding and maritime logistics. USTR agreed on Jan. 16, 2025, and finalized its response on April 17, 2025: fees on Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated, and Chinese-built vessels calling at U.S. ports, plus new duties on Chinese-made ship-to-shore cranes and cargo-handling equipment. The vessel fees took effect Oct. 14, 2025 (Norton Rose Fulbright).
The schedule escalates every April. Vessels owned or operated by Chinese entities pay $50 per net ton as of Oct. 14, 2025, rising to $80 in April 2026, $110 in April 2027, and $140 by April 2028. Non-Chinese carriers operating Chinese-built vessels pay the greater of a per-net-ton or per-container charge — $18 per net ton or $120 per container today, climbing to $33 per net ton or $250 per container by 2028. A separate flat fee of $150 per Car Equivalent Unit applies to foreign-built vehicle carriers. Each fee is capped at five port calls per vessel per year, with carve-outs for empty or ballast arrivals, smaller vessels, Great Lakes calls, short coastal voyages under 2,000 nautical miles, and U.S.-owned vessels (Flexport). China answered with its own port fees on vessels carrying 25% or more U.S. ownership, plus sanctions on several South Korean shipbuilders it accused of cooperating with the U.S. investigation.
Then, on Nov. 1, 2025, President Trump and President Xi Jinping announced a broader trade truce that included a one-year pause on these fees. A Nov. 13, 2025 Federal Register notice suspended the U.S. side — fees and crane duties alike — from 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 10, 2025 through 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 9, 2026, with China pausing its own retaliatory measures in parallel. That's the pause expiring in a little over two weeks. On Oct. 23, 2026, USTR published its proposal to extend it — not for another full year, but for two months, through 11:59 p.m. ET on Jan. 9, 2027 — under docket USTR-2026-0694 (Federal Register). Comments are due Oct. 30, 2026, at 5 p.m. ET, filed through USTR's online comment portal — no account required for a basic submission.
Nothing is final yet. USTR has published a request for comments, not a finished extension, and with only a week of public input before the current suspension lapses, there's real schedule pressure to get a decision out before Nov. 10. The modest two-month length — rather than another full year — suggests Washington is treating this as a bridge past two scheduled U.S.-China summits in November and December, not a lasting fix (gCaptain).
THE PORT FEE TRUCE, AT A GLANCE
Current suspension ends Nov. 9, 2026. Section 301 fees on China-linked vessels, and the linked crane duties, have been paused since Nov. 10, 2025 — that pause runs out at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Fees would escalate if they return. Chinese-owned/operated vessels: $50 per net ton today, rising to $140 by 2028. Chinese-built vessels under other flags: $18 per net ton or $120 per container today, rising to $33/$250.
Comments close Oct. 30, 2026, 5 p.m. ET. USTR's proposed two-month extension (through Jan. 9, 2027) is open for public comment under docket USTR-2026-0694 at comments.ustr.gov.
What to do about it
Find out if your freight rides on exposed tonnage. Ask your carrier or NVOCC whether your typical routings use Chinese-owned, Chinese-operated, or Chinese-built vessels — it's a bigger slice of the global container fleet than most shippers assume, and exposure isn't tied to your own country of origin.
Check your contract's fee pass-through language now. If the fees resume Jan. 10, 2027, you want to already know whether your freight agreement lets a carrier bill you directly for a vessel surcharge or folds it into a later base-rate increase.
File a comment if this affects your business. The window closes Oct. 30, 2026 — submit through USTR's portal at comments.ustr.gov under docket USTR-2026-0694; no account is required for a basic filing.
Don't plan around the fees staying suspended. A two-month bridge extension isn't a repeal. Budget for the possibility that fees resume in January if the two sides don't reach a longer deal.
Watch the November and December U.S.-China summits. Those meetings are the backdrop USTR is buying time for with this extension — any breakthrough or breakdown there will likely decide whether a longer suspension follows.
Keep an eye on
Two things to track before Nov. 10: whether USTR actually publishes the extension in time, and whether China mirrors it on its own side, since the truce only works if both suspensions move together. A separate but related deadline is already in motion: a set of 178 Section 301 technology-transfer tariff exclusions expires on that same Nov. 9, 2026 date, under its own, unrelated Federal Register notice — don't assume one extension covers the other. Trade Talk will cover whichever way USTR goes as the Nov. 9 deadline arrives.
Got questions? Drop a comment below. Ask our licensed customs brokers, and they'll get right back to you here in the comments.
THE TRADE TALK DESK
Trade, tariffs, and duties — explained plainly.
Sources
Federal Register — Request for Comments on Further Suspension of Section 301 Action: China's Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance
Norton Rose Fulbright — USTR Announces Significant Fees on Chinese and Other Vessels
Flexport — Breaking Down the USTR's Chinese Vessel Fees: Costs, Exemptions, and Strategic Considerations
Promotional Products Association International — Pause on Proposed China Shipbuilding Fees, Tariff Hikes Now Set to Expire in January
gCaptain — U.S. and China Suspend Port Fees Central to Trump's Shipbuilding Strategy