Members are invited to note the monthly report from the Chamber of Shipping America for October 2025, received through the International Chamber of Shipping.

Please find attached Annex A.

The report:

1. Summarises the Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 83rd Meeting Extraordinary Session held from 14 to 17 October 2025, including the two main blockers to passing the Net-Zero Framework:
   ．Opposition to the adoption of the agenda based on critical issues which had not been addressed in the base and supplemental text, including issues relating to food security and the need for comprehensive impact assessments; and
   ．Opposition of adoption by explicit acceptance (versus the usual tacit acceptance process).
2. Outlines the impact of recent U.S.-China negotiations on USTR 301 port fees and countervailing Chinese port fees, with respect to the agreement between Presidents Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping to suspend the U.S. and Chinese port fee assessments for a one-year period commencing on 10 November 2025. The CSA report notes that it remains unclear whether the suspension applies to all five USTR annexes or only to specific annexes. It is expected that the text of the current programs will remain as legal requirements, subject to the announced 1-year suspension, and may or may not reflect the two initiatives, should the programs be reinstated at the end of the 1-year period.
3. Notes that regarding the USTR 4th round proposal and request for comments, unless otherwise noted by the USTR, it can be assumed that this proposal is still “live” and comments should be submitted on the public docket by 10 November 2025.
4. Summarises the details on the latest USTR Section 301 modifications and proposed modifications, published on 10 October 2025, before the recent suspension announcement.
5. Outlines CSA’s general comments and positions on the modifications and proposed modifications to the Section 301 actions.
6. Summarises the scope of the Chinese port fees, announced in retaliation to the USTR Section 301 measures. These fees are also suspended as of 10 November 2025.

The Secretariat will closely monitor the issues outlined in the report above.