USTR has proposed extending the port fee suspension on China-linked ships through 11:59 p.m. Eastern on 9 January 2027, in a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication on 26 October. The pause now in force ends at 11:59 p.m. on 9 November, and written comments are due by 5 p.m. Eastern on 30 October, ten days before that. The proposal covers the Section 301 fees on Chinese operators and owners, Chinese-built vessels and foreign-built vehicle carriers, and certain duties on ship-to-shore cranes and cargo-handling equipment.
The notice is a proposal
Lori Ann LaRocco’s newsletter reports that USTR “has extended” the suspension, while the notice says the Trade Representative “is proposing to modify the action” and asks for comment. For importers, the port fee suspension is therefore not settled yet. Tech Times pointed out on 29 September, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S.-China truce runs to 10 January, that a suspension created by a Federal Register notice is moved by another one.
The 2026 proposal does not say when its final version will be published. Senators Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren wrote to the administration in June asking it to restore the fees, while an industry source told Platts on 19 October that the date could be extended again if the talks keep going well.
What the fee attaches to
The fee is charged once per string of U.S. port calls, up to five times a year per vessel, and a ship falls under only one of the annexes of the April 2025 notice of action. For vessels with a Chinese operator or owner the first-year rate is $50 per net ton, rising to $80 in April 2026. Non-Chinese operators of Chinese-built ships pay the higher of $18 per net ton or $120 for each container discharged, unless the vessel is exempt (empty or in ballast, under the size thresholds, or on a short-sea voyage). The new proposal restates none of these rates, so the figure that applies on resumption is not in the notice. The April 2025 text puts liability on the vessel operator on or before the ship’s entry at the first U.S. port.
Did the 2025 fees reach importers
The fees were collected from 14 October until the pause began on 10 November, less than four weeks. In the first week, Sourcing Journal reported from S&P Global Sea-Web data, COSCO and OOCL paid $42.8 million on 15 ships with a combined 855,718 net tons. The Cosco Shipping Jasmine, carrying 13,800 TEU from China to Savannah, owed $4.25 million.
Maersk had told customers it had “no intention to introduce any surcharge in connection with this rule”.
ONE confirmed that no new surcharges had been implemented, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM gave the same answer with an added “at this time”, and COSCO Shipping Lines wrote only that it would “maintain competitive rates and surcharges, along with related policies that align with market conditions.” Tech Times reports the opposite for October 2025, that carriers passed the fees through as freight surcharges almost immediately, and names no carrier or surcharge. The advisories were written between 10 September and 1 October 2025, before the first fee was collected.
One carrier’s reclassification
Atlantic Container Line shows how a fee reaches cargo decisions. LaRocco reports that USTR reclassified all ACL vessels as vehicle carriers, although CEO Andy Abbott says only 1% of the cargo is automobiles, and that ACL estimates the resulting bill at $34 million a year. Abbott said ACL’s largest U.S. container and heavy machinery customers “were panicking that we would redeploy our ships out of the US trade to the booming China trade.” ACL will join a comment from more than 200 trade associations that asks for a delay beyond 9 January or a permanent suspension.
Contract points for sailings after 9 January
The fee is assessed when the ship arrives, so the sailing date in the vessel schedule does not decide which side of 9 January a cargo falls on. Ask the carrier or forwarder in writing which date its government-charges clause bills against, and which of the 2025 no-surcharge advisories it will still honor for ships arriving after 9 January. NorthStandard advised shipowners and charterers in September to consider charterparty clauses that allocate responsibility for U.S. and Chinese port fees, which shows where the cost is expected to land first.
Interested parties can comment through docket USTR-2026-0694 on the USTR portal. No account is needed, and a customs broker, law firm or association filing for others should give the full legal name of the organization it represents.
Tech Times adds that Chinese New Year 2027 falls on 6 February, so a lapse on 10 January would land in the pre-holiday peak, when container space is tight. Importers with boxes on China-linked ships can track each container to see which arrivals fall near the cut-off.