The list of so-called non-sensitive Chinese goods flagged as candidates for tariff relief following last week's Washington summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping runs to magic tricks, billiard balls, fireworks, Christmas ornaments and fishing lines—but excludes apparel and footwear, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld senior counsel Josh Teitelbaum told the SJ Fall Summit on Tuesday.

The list extends the Busan compromise reached last October: 20 percent baseline tariffs remain, and new retaliatory duties tied to excess-capacity investigations are paused through January.

What did fashion get from the summit?

"What we learned yesterday was just the list of goods," Teitelbaum said. "They did not say they plan to cut the tariffs. They did not say when they were going to cut the tariffs. They didn't say which tariffs might be affected."

American Apparel & Footwear Association president and CEO Stephen Lamar, who shared the stage, framed the result as a clock reset rather than a relief measure.

"It's better when they're talking than when they're not talking, and they're going to be talking two more times," Lamar said.

Lamar rejected the truce label outright.

"There is, in my opinion, not a truce," he said. "We are still imposing tariffs. They're still imposing tariffs in return. There's a lot of shin-kicking under the table."

Why has Canada become a problem?

Lamar flagged 50 percent tariffs on certain Canadian goods and outright bans on others as evidence that USMCA preferential access no longer guarantees duty-free entry. Teitelbaum traced the legal carousel: International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs gave way to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the Supreme Court struck the emergency authority down, then to a Section 301 forced-labor action once Section 122 hit its 150-day statutory cap.

"Now we got to the Section 338 tariff in August, and the USMCA exemption is gone," Teitelbaum said. "That could mark the beginning of a new era in North American trade."

Teitelbaum expects Section 338 to lapse by 2027. The administration could replace it with an excess-capacity duty—a newer concept for U.S. trade officials that requires country-by-country analysis.

"Canada is not subject to excess capacity; Mexico is," he said. "If the Canadian goal is that all goods entering the U.S. that qualify under USMCA enter duty-free, that may not be realistic with this administration."

What comes next from the Russia sanctions law?

The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 grants the White House authority to impose tariffs up to 100 percent on countries buying Russian energy, with China and India the obvious targets. A strict 30-day clock forces Trump to publish initial determinations and official country lists by Oct. 18.

"There's a million questions that come out, which is, again, one of the reasons why so many people in the business community did not want Congress to grant brand-new tariff authority to the president," Lamar said. "Something's coming. Wish I could tell you exactly what it would look like and when."

Do AGOA and HELP renewals give buyers enough runway?

Both programs cleared Congress in September and run through December 2028. Lamar argued the window is still too short to drive sourcing shifts.

"Had they in 2000 enacted a 26-year-long program, we would see a lot more textile investment in Africa," Lamar said. "If we can get something longer, then I think all the things the policymakers say they want—more use, greater investment, more vertical integration—would begin to occur."

What should sourcing teams plan for in the next four weeks?

Teitelbaum flagged a near-term wildcard: a potential 7.5 to 10 percent tariff drop four weeks before the midterm elections.

"Is the president going to put on a 7.5 percent or 10 percent tariff four weeks before the midterm elections?" he said. "We'll find out in four weeks."

A Democratic wave, he added, could empower Ways and Means oversight of special tariff treatment, refund pass-throughs, and political-contribution ties.

The sourcing decision the news forces: any China-heavy apparel or footwear volume booked against a hoped-for tariff cut must now be hedged through January, while USMCA-based Mexico sourcing requires contingency planning for a possible excess-capacity successor duty once Section 338 sunsets.