China will keep an additional 24% tariff on imports from the United States suspended for two more months, Beijing announced on Monday, extending a trade truce that had been due to expire on Tuesday, 10 November.

The finance ministry said on its website that the suspension would continue for two months from Tuesday, while a 10% tariff on American goods will remain in place, according to Reuters.

Part of a wider package of extensions

The tariff decision was one of several trade measures Beijing extended on Monday as negotiations with Washington continue over a longer-term deal. China also extended a pause on new rare earth export controls until 10 January, the commerce ministry said, preserving part of the arrangement reached after a summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.

China introduced export controls on certain rare earths in April 2025, then paused them for a year after the two leaders met in South Korea last November. The commerce ministry said the two-month extension was part of a broader suspension of trade countermeasures and tariffs announced on Monday.

Beijing also extended by two months, from 10 November, its suspension of sanctions on five US-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, saying the decision followed the consensus reached in China-US trade consultations.

Beijing also extended the suspension of special port fees on US-linked vessels until 10 January 2027, and kept a separate investigation into shipping and shipbuilding supply chains in suspension. The two-month window matches the expiry US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent flagged in September.

What happens next

China said last week that expanding its purchases of US farm goods would depend on the implementation of the two sides' agreed reciprocal tariff-reduction arrangement. The extension keeps the truce alive while those talks continue.

Attention now turns to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen next week, where Mr Xi and Mr Trump are expected to meet for the third time this year. The truce extension removes an immediate deadline from the agenda, but the underlying questions over tariffs, export controls and farm purchases remain unresolved.

China's trade surplus passed $1 trillion in the first ten months of 2026, customs data showed on Tuesday, as strong exports of high-tech goods offset weak domestic demand. Exports rose 35.2% in October from a year earlier, while imports grew 41.6%, both ahead of economists' forecasts. The figures underline why both sides have an interest in keeping the truce alive: American buyers still depend heavily on Chinese goods, and Chinese exporters still depend on American demand, even as each side keeps tariffs and export controls in reserve as negotiating leverage.