Find "Smart Features", uncheck, and press save, which will reload Gmail.
Then find "Google Workspace smart features" and click the "Manage Workspace smart features settings" button and unselect everything.
My guess is that Smart Features will (along with everything else it does) scan your emails to populate "Happening Soon" with package status, and if you then enable "Turn on package tracking", it will also periodically poll the shippers for those packages to keep the status up to date.
My complaint still stands. I want to entirely remove "Happening Soon" without disabling categories. It's not even the "Google reading your emails" creepiness. I just don't want my UI to be cluttered.
Learning to not rely on inbox categories does make it easier for me to finally leave Gmail for a real email provider though, so maybe this will all work out in the end.
I'm Australian, I use Australian idioms, spelling, contractions, et al in emails to regular contacts for 20+ years via gmail (Yet Another Early Gmail Invite User).
Despite having selected UK English (there's no 'Strayla option) gmail via the web still insists on suggesting I morph into a cookie cutter middle north American Engrish typer.
Yes, Engrish .. AmerEngrish is an abomination.
Feck that shite. Hard.