President Xi Jinping landed at Joint Base Andrews on September 23, 2026 for a three-day state visit culminating in a September 24 summit with President Trump at the White House — Xi's first trip to Washington in more than a decade. Ahead of the formal meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the US and China had agreed to extend their existing trade truce, the framework struck in Busan, South Korea on October 30, 2025, by two months: from its original November 10, 2026 expiration to January 10, 2027. That's the confirmed news as of publication. This guide covers exactly what extended, what the underlying Busan framework actually covers, why none of it changes the tariff rate you calculate on a Chinese import today, and what else is reportedly on the table at the summit but not yet agreed.
What Was Actually Confirmed
On September 23, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US and China agreed to extend the Busan trade truce by two months, from its scheduled November 10, 2026 expiration to January 10, 2027. The announcement followed an unscheduled meeting in Washington between Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, timed just ahead of Xi's arrival for the formal summit. Bessent said it's possible a broader economic package gets agreed by January, or that the current arrangement simply rolls forward again — nothing beyond the two-month extension itself has been finalized. Reported by Bloomberg, CNBC, and NBC News, citing Bessent's on-the-record remarks.
What the Busan Truce Actually Covers
The original framework, agreed October 30, 2025 in Busan, was a one-year package meant to halt that year's tariff-and-retaliation spiral. Its main provisions: the US suspended imposing new retaliatory tariffs on China for one year; the US suspended its Section 301 investigation into China's shipbuilding, maritime, and logistics industries for one year; both sides suspended new export controls on rare-earth materials and high-tech products for one year; and China pledged to resume large-scale purchases of US soybeans and other agricultural products. The framework also included a cut to the fentanyl-related IEEPA tariff, from 20% to 10% — a provision that mattered at the time but has since been overtaken by events (see below). Extending the truce keeps these suspensions in place through January 10, 2027 instead of letting them lapse November 10 — it does not introduce new terms.
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Why This Doesn't Change Your Tariff Bill Today
Here's the part coverage of this story tends to skip: the Busan framework's own tariff cut — fentanyl-related IEEPA duty down from 20% to 10% — applied to the IEEPA tariff regime that the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional on February 20, 2026 (see our Supreme Court ruling guide). CBP replaced those IEEPA tariffs first with the 10% Section 122 global tariff, then, when Section 122 hit its 150-day statutory limit on July 24, 2026, with a two-tier Section 301 forced-labor tariff — China sits in the 12.5% tier. There is no longer a standalone 'fentanyl tariff' line in the current China rate stack for the truce to extend or cut further. What a US importer of Chinese goods actually pays today is a stack of: base MFN duty, the 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor tariff, any product-specific Section 301 China tariff (25-100% depending on category), and, for steel or aluminum content, the 50% Section 232 rate (Section 232 metal and the base surcharge don't stack on top of each other). None of that changed with today's truce extension. Run your own product through the tariff calculator or check the China tariff rate guide for the current, itemized breakdown.
What's Reportedly on the Table But Not Yet Agreed
Coverage ahead of the summit floated additional items under discussion between the two delegations, including artificial intelligence and chip-export controls, Taiwan-related arms sales, and cooperation on ending the Iran war — plus speculation about further tariff adjustments on specific US or Chinese product categories. As of this guide's publication, none of that has moved beyond discussion into a signed or officially confirmed agreement; several outlets covering the summit explicitly described the visit as a relationship-maintenance exercise unlikely to produce sweeping new deals, distinct from the two-month truce extension Bessent already confirmed. Treat anything beyond the truce extension as unconfirmed until a named US or Chinese official states it on the record and it shows up in primary reporting — this page reflects what's verified as of September 24, 2026.
Two Extra Months, Not a New Deal
Some reporting ahead of the summit floated hopes for a longer, six-month extension; what was actually agreed is two months. Bessent framed January 10, 2027 as a checkpoint rather than a hard deadline — the two sides could negotiate a larger economic package by then, or simply extend the existing terms again, similar to how the original truce itself followed an earlier, shorter Geneva/London-era pause in 2025. Nothing here is self-executing: if the two governments don't act again before January 10, 2027, the suspended tariff threats, the paused Section 301 shipbuilding investigation, and the export-control suspensions revert to being live again on that date, under whatever the underlying legal authorities allow at the time.
What Importers Should Actually Do
Nothing changes in your filings or your landed-cost math because of today's announcement — continue applying the same Section 301 forced-labor, Section 301 China-specific, Section 232, and MFN rates you were using yesterday. This truce extension is also entirely separate from the roughly $166 billion in IEEPA duty refunds CBP is processing through the CAPE portal (see the IEEPA refund guide) — that refund program traces back to the Supreme Court's February ruling on tariffs already collected, not to anything happening at this week's summit. If a broader deal or new tariff action is announced before or after January 10, 2027, it will get its own dated entry on our tariff changes log and its own guide if it actually moves the numbers.
Key Takeaway
The headline from Xi Jinping's Washington visit, as of September 24, 2026, is a confirmed two-month extension of the US-China Busan trade truce — from November 10, 2026 to January 10, 2027 — announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ahead of the formal summit. It keeps existing suspensions (on new retaliatory tariffs, the Section 301 shipbuilding probe, and rare-earth/high-tech export controls) in place for two more months rather than letting them lapse. It is not a new tariff cut: the truce's own tariff provision, the fentanyl-tariff reduction, applied to the IEEPA regime the Supreme Court already struck down, and today's China import math runs through the Section 301 forced-labor tariff (12.5% for China), product-specific Section 301 rates, Section 232 metals duties, and MFN — unchanged by this announcement. Watch for confirmed, on-the-record developments beyond the truce extension before treating anything else reported around the summit as settled.
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