The leading essayVolume I, No. I
Washington is renewing the China truce one instrument at a time, and the tariff exclusions are not yet among them
Commerce has stayed its export-control Affiliates Rule to January 10, 2027, and USTR has proposed the same for its port fees. The 178 Section 301 product exclusions, which lapse on November 9, have had no notice at all.
The Journal
The détente that Washington and Beijing reached in the autumn of 2025 was announced as a single bargain, but it was never a single legal act. It was a bundle of separate instruments, each issued under its own statute, by its own agency, with its own expiry date. That structure is now visible. On November 5, 2026 the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) filed a final rule extending, to January 10, 2027, the stay of its rule extending export controls to the affiliates of listed entities1. Two weeks earlier, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) proposed suspending its maritime Section 301 port fees for the same two months2. A third element of the bargain, the 178 product exclusions from the China Section 301 tariffs, has received no notice at all. Under the governing text it expires at 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on November 9, 20263. A truce that is renewed by announcement must still be carried out instrument by instrument, and for importers the instruments are what count.
ContentsVolume I 2026
One essay published in this volume
Washington is renewing the China truce one instrument at a time, and the tariff exclusions are not yet among them
Commerce has stayed its export-control Affiliates Rule to January 10, 2027, and USTR has proposed the same for its port fees. The 178 Section 301 product exclusions, which lapse on November 9, have had no notice at all.