This is not a forecast. Every date below is already fixed in an official notice, a regulation or a published schedule. For each one: what it changes for a buyer, and what to put on the order. Status as of 30 October 2026. Confirm each date against the official source before you rely on it.
10 November 2026: China’s suspended export controls are due to resume
On 9 October 2025, China announced a package of export controls (MOFCOM and GAC Announcements No. 55–58, 61 and 62). It covered superhard materials, rare-earth equipment and raw materials, five further medium and heavy rare earths, lithium batteries and synthetic graphite anode materials, rare-earth technologies, and foreign-made products containing a set share of Chinese-origin rare earths. After the US–China Busan agreement, Announcement No. 70 of 2025 suspended the package until 10 November 2026.
The trade truce has since been extended (see 10 January below), but this suspension is a separate notice with its own date. China’s commerce ministry announced the truce extension on 28 September; an analysis published on 14 October noted that the announcement did not explicitly mention the rare-earth restrictions. We have found no official notice extending Announcement No. 70. The April 2025 licensing regime for seven medium and heavy rare earths was not part of this suspension and remains in force. For background, see our rare earth export controls piece.
On the order: if your goods contain rare earths, permanent magnets, lithium batteries or synthetic graphite anode material, state which export-licence rules apply on the shipment date, who applies, and what happens to price and delivery if the suspension lapses before shipment.
27 November 2026: a US-specific suspension ends
MOFCOM Announcement No. 46 of 2024, Article 2, provides that, in principle, licences are not granted for exports of dual-use gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard-material items to the United States, with stricter end-user review for graphite. Announcement No. 72 of 2025 suspended that article until 27 November 2026.
On the order: this matters only if you import those materials from China into the US. If you do, write the licence status and the applicant on the order.
10 January 2027: the US–China trade truce now ends
On 23 September 2026 the two sides extended the Busan truce by two months, from 10 November to 10 January 2027. Under the Busan agreement the US halved its fentanyl-related tariff on Chinese goods from 20% to 10%. If the truce lapses without a further extension, the suspended measures could revert.
On the order: say who bears a change in duties between the purchase order and shipment. Your Incoterm decides a lot here; see our guide to EXW, FOB, CIF and DDP.
6 February 2027: Chinese New Year
The 10 January truce date falls about four weeks before the holiday. Many factories close for weeks, so a tariff or licence change that lands just before the closure leaves little time to ship. On the order: get the factory’s last production week in writing.
18 February 2027: EU battery QR code and battery passport
Under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, every battery needs a QR code from 18 February 2027 (Article 13(6)), and electric vehicle, light means of transport and industrial batteries above 2 kWh need a battery passport (Article 77). The harmonised general label format was still a draft at the end of August, and due diligence obligations were postponed to 18 August 2027. See our EU Batteries Regulation timeline. On the order: ask for the label artwork files and agree who pays if the layout has to change.
March 2027: the next China–EU trade round
After talks in Beijing on 8–9 October 2026, a further in-person meeting was set for March 2027. Anything reported about hybrid vehicles or price undertakings remains an unpublished understanding until a text exists. See our summary of the October talks.
Three lines for any order that spans these dates
- The rules in force on the shipment date apply, and the contract says who bears new duties, licence costs or relabelling.
- If a new licence requirement, tariff or label requirement takes effect before shipment, either side may ask to reprice or extend, within a short notice period.
- The contract says who applies for a licence, and whether a refusal lets the buyer cancel and recover any advance payment.
The bottom line
These are the dates that already exist. Some will move. Check each one against the official notice a week before it arrives, and write the shipment-date rule into your order rather than assuming the current rules will still apply.
If you need the shipment-date and repricing lines written into your PO in English and Chinese, I can prepare the wording and issue a stamped set under our bilingual translation company seal when you need one. See what this covers.
Dates as of 30 October 2026, based on MOFCOM Announcements No. 70 and No. 72 of 2025, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and press reporting of the US–China and China–EU talks. Notices issued after that date are not reflected. General sourcing information, not legal advice.