US-China Trade Truce Extended to January 10, 2027: What Each Side Has Suspended and What Is Still in Force

On 23 September 2026, the day Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a three-day state visit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the trade truce between the two countries would be extended to 10 January 2027. The aim, he said, was to give both sides more time on the economic front. China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed the extension a few days later.

Two more months. The truce has become the operating system of US–China economic relations: a set of suspended threats, each with an expiry date, renewed just before they bite.

What was agreed in Busan

The truce dates from the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi in Busan on 30 October 2025. The terms, published by the White House on 1 November, ran both ways.

Washington cut its fentanyl-related tariff on Chinese goods by ten percentage points from 10 November 2025, and kept its higher reciprocal tariff suspended for a year. It also suspended for a year the Commerce Department’s rule extending export controls to companies majority-owned by listed firms, and its Section 301 port fees on Chinese ships.

Beijing suspended the sweeping rare earth export controls it had announced on 9 October 2025, and agreed to issue general licences for rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite. It committed to buy at least 12 million tonnes of US soybeans in the last two months of 2025 and at least 25 million tonnes a year in 2026, 2027 and 2028. It dropped its own countermeasures against the US port fees.

What changed in 2026

The ground under the truce shifted in February 2026, when the Supreme Court ruled that the President couldn’t impose tariffs under the emergency powers law. Collection of those tariffs, including the fentanyl and reciprocal tariffs on China, ended on 24 February. The leverage Washington had traded in Busan partly disappeared by court order.

It was rebuilt on other laws. A temporary 10% global tariff ran from February to July. On 24 July new Section 301 tariffs took effect on 60 economies, with China in the 12.5% tier. Those sit on top of the Section 301 tariffs from 2018, so Chinese goods on the older lists face combined rates well above that.

Xi and Trump met again in Beijing on 14 and 15 May 2026. They agreed to set up a trade board and an investment board and a framework they called constructive strategic stability. China agreed to buy 200 Boeing aircraft. There was no comprehensive deal and no joint statement.

What’s suspended, and until when

The extension keeps the suspended measures from October 2025 on hold until 10 January 2027. On the US side, that includes the 50% ownership rule on export controls. On China’s side, it includes the October 2025 rare earth package. China’s April 2025 licensing controls on seven heavy rare earths remain in force.

The September talks are reported to have produced a framework for reciprocal tariff cuts on about $30 billion of goods on each side, plus new councils on trade and investment and a dialogue on AI. Those details haven’t been published by either government.

Why this structure persists

Both governments have reasons to keep things temporary. Short extensions keep pressure on the other side and leave room to escalate. Neither has to sell a permanent settlement at home. And each suspension is a bargaining chip that can be traded again.

The cost falls on companies, which have to plan around deadlines a few months out. Chipmakers, carmakers that depend on rare earth magnets, farmers selling soybeans and shipping lines all watch the same dates. Countries that aren’t party to the truce, like Japan, have found that Beijing’s suspensions don’t extend to them.

The original one-year suspensions were due to lapse on 10 November 2026. The date to watch now is 10 January 2027.