An aerial drone photo taken on April 30, 2025 shows cargo ships berthing at a container dock of Qingdao Port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. This year, Qingdao port has actively expanded its international shipping routes, especially for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Photo: VCG

 
The US government on Wednesday extended for almost a year a group of 178 tariff exclusions for Chinese industrial and medical products under the "Section 301" probe, including items used in solar panels manufacturing, after China and the US reached a trade and economic agreement in early November, the US Trade Representative Office said on Wednesday local time.

The tariff exclusions, which were previously scheduled to expire on November 29, 2025, are now extended until November 10, 2026.

The moves cover 14 product categories related to equipment for manufacturing solar products, and 164 for a wide range of industrial and medical products, including electric motors, blood pressure monitoring equipment, pump components, auto air compressors and printed circuit boards, according a report by Reuters.

Previously, regarding the US "Section 301" investigation, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce noted that the corresponding measures politicize and instrumentalize normal trade issues and constitute a typical case of political manipulation on the US side. The World Trade Organization has long ruled that "Section 301" tariffs violate WTO rules.

Global Times