US Port Fees on China-Linked Ships Are Set to Be Paused Again. What It Means for Fabric Freight to the United States

What the US has proposed

In 2025 the United States set up fees on ships that call at its ports if the ship is owned or operated by a Chinese company or was built in China. The fees were part of a Section 301 action against China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors. After a US-China deal in November 2025, the US suspended that action for one year. The pause runs out at the end of 9 November 2026.

On 23 October 2026 the US Trade Representative opened a comment period on a proposal to extend the pause by two months, through 9 January 2027. A notice published in the Federal Register on 26 October 2026 says the aim is to allow further negotiation with China. During the suspension, no party would owe the maritime transport fees in the notice's annexes. Comments close at 5 p.m. Eastern time on 30 October 2026.

Read this as a proposal, not a final decision. The US has not yet published a final order. If none is issued, the pause ends on 9 November and the fees apply again from 10 November.

Why a fabric buyer should care

Container lines choose which ships serve which routes, and a fee on a class of ship becomes a cost the line decides whether to absorb, move to other ships or add to the rate it charges. We cannot say how much of any fee would reach a given freight quote, and the notice does not say either.

What a buyer can say is that a line with many China-owned or China-built ships serving a US port has more to lose if the fees return, and that is the kind of line most likely to add a surcharge or shift ships between routes. For fabric shipped from India to the United States, the question is whether your service uses such ships.

What to check with your forwarder

• Whether the vessel on your booking is owned or operated by a Chinese company or was built in China, and whether the line has announced any surcharge tied to the US fees.
• Whether a surcharge, if one appears, is for the carrier's account or yours. Under FOB terms the freight is yours; under CIF or DAP the supplier carries it, and the contract wording decides who pays a charge added after the quote. Our guide to Incoterms for uniform fabric sets out who carries what.
• Your shipping window. If a consignment would arrive after 10 November, ask what the line plans if the pause is not extended.

What it does not change

The US duty on Indian cloth, which is a separate matter, covered in Section 301 excess-capacity investigation. It does not change weaving, processing or inspection time, or the paperwork. For most programmes, freight is a small share of the landed cost of cloth, and sea transit is one block of a uniform fabric lead time.

Nor does it say anything about routes to Europe or the Gulf. For those, see our posts on Suez routing and on freight disruption.

What to do now

If you ship to the United States between now and January, ask your forwarder one question before you book: has the line said anything about the fees returning on 10 November? Build a few days of buffer into any programme with a hard delivery date, and agree in writing who pays any charge added after the quote. We will update this page when the US confirms or drops the proposal. To plan a shipment against a delivery date, Request Catalog.