In a world where international trade relations and energy supplies are often at the mercy of shifting political winds, two major developments this November have underscored both the fragility and interconnectedness of the global economy. On one front, China and the United States have taken tentative steps to ease their long-running trade war, suspending key tariffs and port fees in a move that could signal a thaw—at least temporarily—in their economic standoff. On another, Western sanctions have thrown a wrench into the operations of Russia’s Lukoil at one of Iraq’s largest oilfields, threatening a critical source of oil for the region and exposing the ripple effects of geopolitical disputes.
Let’s start in Beijing, where on November 11, 2025, China’s transport ministry announced the suspension of its so-called "special port fees" on US vessels. The measure, effective from 13:01 local time (05:01 GMT) that day, mirrors Washington’s decision to pause levies targeting Chinese ships, according to a statement reported by AFP. This synchronized move is the latest in a series of gestures meant to de-escalate the trade tensions that have plagued the world’s two largest economies for months.
The backdrop to this détente is a volatile trade and tariff war that, at its peak, saw both countries slap triple-digit duties on each other’s goods. The resulting costs didn’t just hurt American and Chinese businesses; they snarled global supply chains and sent shockwaves through international markets. But after a pivotal meeting last month in South Korea between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, both sides agreed to step back from the brink—at least for now.
China’s suspension of port fees isn’t the only olive branch being offered. The country has also decided to suspend sanctions against US subsidiaries of Hanwha Ocean, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders, starting November 10, 2025. This move is closely tied to the US halt on port fees for Chinese-built and operated ships. As China’s commerce ministry put it, "In light of this (US suspension)... China has decided to suspend the relevant measures for one year." The five US subsidiaries of Hanwha had been sanctioned in October after Beijing accused them of supporting a US government "Section 301" investigation, which had found China’s dominance of the shipbuilding industry to be unreasonable.
That dominance is no small matter. While the US shipbuilding industry was a global powerhouse after World War II, it now accounts for just 0.1 percent of worldwide output. The field is now led by Asia, with China building nearly half of all ships launched, followed by South Korea and Japan. The recent sanctions had banned Chinese organizations and individuals from cooperating with Hanwha subsidiaries and had even prompted Beijing to consider a probe into whether the US investigation threatened the security and development interests of China’s shipbuilding sector. That probe, too, has been shelved for a year, further cooling the temperature between the two powers.
But the gestures don’t stop there. On November 6, China extended the suspension of additional tariffs on US goods for another year, keeping them at 10 percent, and suspended some tariffs on soybeans and other US agricultural products. Then, on November 9, China lifted an export ban on gallium, germanium, and antimony—metals crucial for modern electronics and green technologies. Following further talks, Beijing also agreed to halt for one year restrictions on the export of rare earths technology, a sector where China’s dominance gives it significant leverage.
Washington, for its part, agreed to suspend for a year export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies with at least a 50 percent stake. Each of these steps, reported by AFP and other outlets, reflects a cautious optimism—a sense that, with enough goodwill and pragmatic negotiation, the two superpowers might avoid further escalation, at least for a while.
Yet, while trade tensions between Beijing and Washington may be easing, the energy sector is facing its own set of crises. In southern Iraq, Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, has declared force majeure at the West Qurna-2 oilfield after Western sanctions upended its operations. According to Reuters, Lukoil informed Iraq’s oil ministry on November 4, 2025, that "force majeure conditions" prevented it from continuing normal operations at the site, which is located 65 kilometers northwest of Basra and produces around 480,000 barrels per day—roughly 9 percent of Iraq’s total oil output.
The reason? Iraq’s state oil authorities have frozen all cash and crude payments to Lukoil in compliance with US and British sanctions imposed in October. Payments owed to the Russian company will remain frozen until Baghdad can figure out a way to proceed through non-sanctioned intermediaries, an Iraqi official told Reuters. The financial freeze has already forced Iraq’s national oil company SOMO to cancel three crude shipments from Lukoil’s share of production last week, amounting to about 4 million barrels of crude that would have served as in-kind payment for November.
The situation is precarious. Lukoil, which began production at West Qurna-2 in 2014 and holds a 75 percent stake in the project, once planned to invest more than $30 billion in the field. But with payments frozen and options limited, the Russian firm has terminated all contracts with foreign staff at the site, leaving only Russian and Iraqi employees on the ground as of November 7, 2025. If the impasse isn’t resolved within six months, a senior Iraqi industry official warned, Lukoil could shut down production entirely and walk away from the project—an outcome that would deal a heavy blow to Iraq’s oil-dependent economy.
For now, the declaration of force majeure provides Lukoil with legal protection from penalties, as allowed by its contract. But the uncertainty looms large, both for Iraq’s oil sector and for global energy markets already on edge from supply disruptions elsewhere.
Both these stories—China and the US inching toward trade peace, and Lukoil’s troubles in Iraq—highlight the delicate balance that underpins the global economy. When superpowers clash or sanctions bite, the consequences ripple far beyond boardrooms and ministries, affecting workers, consumers, and entire industries. Whether the current calm in US-China relations holds, and whether Lukoil and Iraq can find a way out of their predicament, remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: in today’s interconnected world, what happens in Beijing, Washington, or Basra can quickly become everyone’s business.
