The present invention relates to the field of congestion control, and discloses a method for handling local link congestion and an apparatus. The method includes: negotiating, by a local link control entity, a local congestion notification capability with a local terminal; setting, by the local link control entity, a congestion identifier in a downlink data packet corresponding to the local congestion notification capability when a local link is congested between the local link control entity and the local terminal; and performing, by the local link control entity, congestion control on the local link, or performing, by the local terminal, congestion control on the local link according to the congestion identifier. The apparatus includes a local link control entity and a terminal device.