Tariffs: EU Chamber of Commerce welcomes extension of the US‑China truce, but uncertainty remains

Brussels – The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, an organisation founded in 2000 that counts 1,600 member companies and is recognised by the European Commission and the Chinese authorities as the official voice of European businesses in China,  “welcomes the two-month extension” to the trade war between Washington and Beijing. Yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an agreement to extend “the economic truce between the two countries, which was due to end on 10 November”. Now, however, “it will now expire on 10 January.”

 According to the European Chamber of Commerce, this is good news as “the implementation of the planned export controls on rare earths would have a crippling impact on industry.” However, “significant uncertainty remains over how the situation will develop beyond the 10th January deadline,” and “the European Chamber hopes to see the two sides using this extension to work towards finding a permanent solution for their respective concerns that ensures the predictability and reliability of global supply chains,” said Jens Eskelund, President of the European Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, the extension “does not address underlying challenges companies experience when it comes to applying for both single and general export licences.” In this context, the Chamber of Commerce has identified three main issues: “A lack of coordination between the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs; the fact that information disclosure requirements required for export control licence applications are not standardised (meaning companies are at times asked for different information, including when making repeat applications); and a lack of clarity as to why some applications are unsuccessful.”