China said Monday it would suspend for one year “special port fees” on US vessels “simultaneously” with Washington’s pause on levies targeting Chinese ships, as a fragile trade truce between the superpowers continues to take shape.

The United States and China have been involved in a volatile trade and tariff war for months, but agreed to walk back some punitive measures after presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met last month in South Korea.

At one point, duties on both sides had reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world’s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains.

The suspension of the port fees, which applied to ships operated by or built in the United States that visited Chinese ports, began at 13:01 on Monday, a transport ministry statement said.

The US shipbuilding industry was dominant after the Second World War but has gradually declined and now accounts for just 0.1 percent of global output.

The sector is now dominated by Asia, with China building nearly half of all ships launched, ahead of South Korea and Japan.

Separately, Beijing said it would suspend sanctions against US subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders.

The year-long suspension of measures against Hanwha, effective from November 10, was linked to the US halting port fees it had levied on Chinese-built and operated ships, China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement.

“In light of this… China has decided to suspend the relevant measures” for one year, the statement said.

China had imposed sanctions on five US subsidiaries of Hanwha in October, accusing them of supporting a US government “Section 301” investigation that found Beijing’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry unreasonable.

Organizations and individuals in China had been banned from cooperating with Hanwha Shipping LLC, Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc., Hanwha Ocean USA International LLC, Hanwha Shipping Holdings LLC and HS USA Holdings Corp.

A planned probe into whether the Section 301 investigation impacted the “security and development interests” of China’s shipbuilding industry and supply chain had also been shelved for one year, according to the transport ministry.

The suspensions are the latest sign of a thaw in economic ties since the Xi-Trump meeting.

On Wednesday, China said it would extend the suspension of additional tariffs on US goods for one year, keeping them at 10 percent, and suspend some tariffs on soybeans and other US agricultural products.

China also suspended an export ban on gallium, germanium and antimony, metals crucial for modern technology, on Sunday.

Also following talks, Beijing agreed to halt for one-year restrictions on the export of rare earths technology.

Washington in turn agreed to suspend for one-year export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies in which they had at least a 50 percent stake, the Chinese commerce ministry said Wednesday.

US senators reached a bipartisan deal on Sunday to resume federal funding, ending a government shutdown that has stretched to a record 40 days and brought many federal operations to a halt.

The agreement between Democratic and Republican senators a first step toward halting the shutdown  comes amid warnings that US air travel could “slow to a trickle” as thousands more flights faced cancellations or delays over the weekend.

According to outlets including CNN and Fox News, lawmakers reached a stopgap deal to fund the government through January, following disputes over health care subsidies, food benefits, and President Donald Trump’s firings of federal employees.

Commenting on the development after returning to the White House from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said, “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending.”

The Republican-led Senate quickly held a procedural vote on Sunday to move the measure forward, which appeared to have sufficient support from Democrats to advance.

Once the Senate approves the bill, it must pass the House of Representatives, also under Republican control, before heading to Trump’s desk for signature — a process that could take several days.

Earlier on Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that continued shutdown could further worsen flight disruptions, particularly as Americans prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.

By Sunday evening, more than 2,700 US flights had been canceled, with nearly 10,000 delayed, according to FlightAware data.

Airports in the New York City area, Chicago’s O’Hare, and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson were particularly hard-hit.

Newark Liberty International Airport, a major northeastern hub, was among the worst affected.

At New York’s LaGuardia Airport, more than half of all outbound flights were delayed.

Splits over health care

Without a deal, Duffy warned that many Americans planning to travel for the November 27 Thanksgiving holiday would “not going to be able to get on an airplane, because there are not going to be that many flights that fly if this thing doesn’t open back up.”

It could take days for flight schedules to recover after the shutdown is finally ended, and federal funding — including salaries — starts to flow again.

Sunday marked the third day of flight reductions at airports nationwide, after the Trump administration ordered reductions to ease strain on air traffic controllers working without pay.

According to lawmakers, the bill would restore funding for the SNAP food stamp program which helps more than 42 million lower-income Americans pay for groceries.

It would also reverse Trump’s firings of thousands of federal workers over the past month, and assure a vote on extending health care subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” Senate Democrat Tim Kaine said in a statement.

The bill — a so-called continuing resolution (CR) to keep government funded at pre-shutdown levels — “will protect federal workers from baseless firings, reinstate those who have been wrongfully terminated during the shutdown, and ensure federal workers receive back pay” as required by law, he added.

But many Senate Democrats are opposed to the deal, including the chamber’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer, who expressed anger that it offers a vote for extending the health care subsidies instead of extending them directly.

“I can not in good faith support this CR that fails to address the health care crisis,” Schumer told the chamber, adding: “This fight will and must continue.”

• Bill includes three appropriations measures.
• Democrats had resisted funding measure without healthcare fixes.
• Trump pushes for direct payments over ACA subsidies.

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Sunday moved forward on a measure aimed at reopening the federal government and ending a 40-day shutdown that has sidelined federal workers, delayed food aid and snarled air travel.

In a procedural vote, senators advanced a House-passed bill that will be amended to fund the government until January 30 and include a package of three full-year appropriations bills. If the Senate eventually passes the amended bill, the package still must be approved by the House of Representatives and sent to President Donald Trump for his signature, a process that could take several days.

Under a deal struck with a group of Democrats, Republicans agreed to a vote in December on extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, according to a person familiar with negotiations over the bill. The subsidies have been a Democratic priority during the funding battle.

The resolution would also reverse at least some of the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown and fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme benefits for a year.

“All federal employees, including members of our military and Coast Guard, the Capitol police officers, Border Patrol agents, TSA screeners, air-traffic controllers, will receive their back wages” under the deal, Republican Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said of the measure.

The deal was brokered by two New Hampshire Democrats, Senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, and Angus King, an independent from Maine, the person said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, voted against the measure.

Sunday marked the 40th day of the shutdown, which has sidelined federal workers and affected food aid, parks and travel, while air traffic control staffing shortages threaten to derail travel during the busy Thanksgiving holiday season late this month.

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said the mounting effects of the shutdown have pushed the chamber toward an agreement.

“Temperatures cool, the atmospheric pressure increases outside and all of a sudden it looks like things will come together,” Tillis told reporters.

Should the government remain closed for much longer, economic growth could turn negative in the fourth quarter, especially if air travel does not return to normal levels by Thanksgiving, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett warned on the CBS “Face the Nation” show. Thanksgiving falls on November 27 this year.

Trump takes aim at healthcare subsidies

The wrangling on Capitol Hill came as Trump on Sunday again pushed to replace subsidies for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces with direct payments to individuals.

The subsidies, which helped double ACA enrollment to 24 million since they were put in place in 2021, are at the heart of the shutdown. Republicans have maintained they are open to addressing the issue only after government funding is restored.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Sunday to blast the subsidies as a “windfall for Health Insurance Companies, and a DISASTER for the American people,” while demanding the funds be sent directly to individuals to buy coverage on their own. “I stand ready to work with both Parties to solve this problem once the Government is open,” Trump wrote.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, said in separate TV interviews that Trump’s healthcare idea would not be introduced before lawmakers pass a federal funding measure.

“We’re not proposing it to the Senate right now,” Bessent said in an interview with ABC‘s “This Week” programme. “We are not going to negotiate with the Democrats until they reopen the government.”

Americans shopping for 2026 Obamacare health insurance plans are facing a more than doubling of monthly premiums on average, health experts estimate, with the pandemic-era subsidies due to expire at the end of the year.

Republicans rejected a proposal on Friday by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, to vote to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of tax credits that lower costs for plans under the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said on Sunday he believed Trump’s healthcare proposal was aimed at gutting the ACA and allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“So the same insurance companies he’s railing against in those tweets, he is saying: ‘I’m going to give you more power to cancel people’s policies and not cover them if they have a pre-existing condition,'” Schiff said on ABC‘s “This Week” programme.