What was agreed upon

• Port fee suspension: Both sides agreed to suspend new port fees and shipping tariffs for one year, easing cost pressures on the global maritime and logistics sectors.
• China agreed to pause for one year its export restrictions on rare-earth minerals, a major relief for global tech and automotive supply chains.
• The United States has cut its so-called “fentanyl-related” tariff on Chinese goods from 20 % to 10 %, and China committed to resume and expand agricultural purchases from the U.S.

Implications for global trade & shipping

• The deal calms a volatile environment, easing financial and operational pressures for shipping lines and commodity traders, who can now gain a degree of predictability after months of escalation.
• For strategic supply chains: the rare earth pause buys time for industries dependent on these materials, especially in automotives, electronics, and clean energy.

Bottom line

• The agreement is limited to one-year, rather than a full binding framework.
• Implementation details are still unclear. For example, the exact mechanics of the rare-earth export licence regime has not been announced.