China has effectively extended its trade truce with the United States by two months, acting just as the deal was due to expire on Tuesday and keeping a punishing tariff on American goods on hold while Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping prepare to meet again.
Photo: The White House / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Beijing announced on Monday that it would continue to suspend a 24 percent additional tariff on US imports for two more months, starting at 1:01 p.m. Singapore time on Tuesday (05:01 GMT). A 10 percent tariff remains in place. China’s State Council said the extension implements the “outcomes and consensus reached at the Washington meeting between the heads of state of China and the United States.”
Critical minerals, blacklisted firms and port fees also covered
The extension goes well beyond tariffs. China’s commerce ministry said export-control waivers for certain critical minerals and related technologies will run until January 10, 2027. Measures affecting 11 US firms on China’s unreliable entities list and 16 on its export control list will also remain suspended through January 10, 2027, and the suspension of special port fees on US-linked vessels has been extended to the same date.
A $60 billion package still waiting to be finalised
The truce extension buys time for a bigger deal that is still unfinished. After the two leaders met in Washington in September, both sides proposed a $60 billion package of reciprocal tariff cuts, including roughly $17 billion worth of US farm goods that China imported in 2024. That plan has yet to be finalised.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in September that the two-month extension would give both sides “more time to see what we can do on the economic front.” The wording suggests Washington and Beijing both want the breathing room, even as the core disagreements remain unresolved.
Trump and Xi to meet again next week
The extension clears the way for the leaders’ next meeting. Trump and Xi are expected to sit down for the third time this year on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen next week, and Japanese broadcaster NHK reports they are also set to meet at the Group of 20 gathering in Florida in December.
For businesses on both sides, the extension removes an immediate cliff edge. Had the truce lapsed on Tuesday, the 24 percent tariff would have snapped back onto US goods entering China, hitting American exporters — including farmers who were promised a share of the $60 billion package — and raising costs for Chinese buyers. Instead, the status quo holds until January, with the APEC meeting now the next real test of whether the truce becomes something more durable.
The deal remains fragile by design. It is a rolling pause, not a settlement: tariffs are suspended rather than removed, export controls are waived rather than lifted, and every extension so far has been measured in weeks and months rather than years. Whether the Shenzhen meeting produces the finalised package both sides sketched out in September will decide if this truce hardens into a lasting arrangement — or simply resets the clock for another deadline in January.
Sources: Reuters; NHK World-Japan; The Straits Times.