The Office of the US Trade Representative has declined to say whether it will extend the current pause on port fees for Chinese-built and Chinese-operated vessels, leaving apparel and footwear importers without clarity less than two weeks before the suspension expires on November 9, WWD reports.

The fee regime stems from the Section 301 investigation into China's targeting of maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, which concluded earlier this year with a determination to levy charges on Chinese-owned and Chinese-built ships calling at US ports. The charges apply per voyage, with rates structured to escalate over time. The revenue is earmarked for revitalising the domestic shipbuilding industrial base.

USTR later paused implementation of the fees, giving carriers and shippers temporary relief. That pause now runs up against its November 9 expiry, and the agency has not responded to queries on whether it will be extended, according to WWD.

The silence matters directly for softgoods supply chains. Most apparel, footwear and textile imports from Asia reach the United States by ocean, and a significant share of that capacity — particularly on transpacific services — deploys vessels built in Chinese yards or operated by Chinese carriers. If the fees resume at the scheduled rates, carriers are expected to pass costs through in the form of surcharges, and those charges would land on landed cost calculations for importers already absorbing elevated freight rates.

For sourcing teams, the calculus is straightforward but uncomfortable. The fee structure discrimininates by vessel ownership and build origin rather than by cargo origin, which means shipments of goods made in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India or Indonesia can still attract the charge if they travel on affected tonnage. That complicates the standard playbook of shifting country of origin to manage US-China trade exposure.

There are carve-outs worth tracking. USTR's framework includes exemptions for vessels arriving empty to lift US exports, and provisions designed to avoid penalising short-sea and Great Lakes traffic, as well as US-owned carriers using Chinese-built ships. But the core charge on Chinese-operated vessels remains in place once the pause lapses, absent an extension decision.

The timing compounds an already difficult fourth-quarter planning cycle. Importers front-loading inventory ahead of anticipated tariff actions have pushed peak-season volumes through West Coast gateways, and any fresh cost layer from port fees would arrive just as holiday goods clear customs.

For compliance and logistics leads, the immediate task is contractual: confirm with carriers and NVOCC partners whether tariff surcharges tied to the USTR fees are written into current service contracts, and identify which booked sailings fall after November 9 on affected services. Sourcing directors should also model landed-cost scenarios at the full scheduled fee levels rather than assuming the pause continues.

The decision USTR owes the market is binary — extend the pause or let the fees bite on November 9. Until it speaks, importers shipping on Chinese-built or Chinese-operated tonnage are pricing in a cost that may or may not materialise, and that uncertainty is itself a cost.