At 5 p.m. Eastern on 30 October the comment window closed on a USTR notice that would keep the Section 301 port fees on China-linked ships suspended through 9 January 2027. Several of the filings behind that deadline asked for far more than two months.
The last day of comments
Washington collected the fees from 14 October 2025 and suspended them on 10 November, gCaptain reports, so they were in force for less than four weeks. The year-long suspension that replaced them runs out at 11:59 p.m. Eastern on 9 November. Two months is “substantially shorter than the original one-year suspension”, Holland & Knight notes in its alert on the proposal, and without further action the fees and duties come back.
USTR gives talks as the reason. “The United States is continuing to engage with China with the goal of obtaining the elimination of the acts, policies, and practices at issue in the investigation,” the notice says.
The joint letter to the Trade Representative carries signatures from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Federation to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Association of Port Authorities and the World Shipping Council, among hundreds of other associations. They welcomed the two months and asked for a permanent suspension. Chinese-built ships account for a significant share of global shipping capacity, gCaptain reports the letter as saying, so reinstated fees would reach American importers and exporters well beyond Chinese carriers, while freight rates and equipment availability are already under strain.
Senators Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren asked for the opposite in June: restore the charges, because suspending them weakens the rebuilding of American shipyards.
Grimaldi counts its cargo
Eighty-six percent. Grimaldi says, citing its volumes over the past three years, that this is the share of its U.S. cargo made up of American exports or imports associated with U.S. automakers, one argument in the carrier’s 30 October filing with USTR. The fee in question sits in Annex III, which targets foreign-built vehicle carriers. “Many of our American customers have expressed concern at the thought of Grimaldi redeploying its ships out of US trades if the proposed further suspension of this Section 301 action is not implemented,” the company wrote.
Atlantic Container Line came at the same fee from another side. Its chief executive, Andy Abbott, told gCaptain that ACL’s unique ships “were mistakenly classified by USTR as vehicle carriers even though only 1% of its cargo is automobiles”. His largest container and heavy machinery customers, he said, “were panicking that we would redeploy our ships out of the US trade to the booming China trade.”
Both carriers describe customer fears of redeployment. ACL adds that any port fees would hit its growing U.S. export business. For arrivals in early January, DM Customs advises asking which vessel, where it was built and who operates it. A sailing schedule grouped by vessel lists every carrier selling space on the same hull.
What 9 January leaves open
As of the 30 October deadline this is a proposal. gCaptain’s report on the Grimaldi filing says the two-month extension “has not yet been finalized”. Holland & Knight is plain about the default: absent further action, the port fees and related duties resume once the current suspension expires on 9 November.
Plan for two cases: Section 301 port fees back on 10 November, or paused until 9 January. Holland & Knight adds that the fees and duties could resume after 9 January, depending on the U.S.-China talks. For bookings into U.S. ports, whether vehicles, containers or machinery, ask the carrier which vessel will sail, and quote January space both ways.