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China announces new tariff exclusions for some US goods

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BEIJING: China on Thursday unveiled a new list of tariff exemptions for imports from the United States, days after the world’s two largest economies announced a Phase 1 trade deal.


The tariff waivers will be effective Dec. 26, and will apply for six items, most of them chemical products such as white oil, high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, polypropylene and food-grade petroleum wax, the Ministry of Finance said.


The exemption will be for one year and end on Dec. 25, 2020, the ministry said, but didn’t provide the value of the import goods excluded from duties.


Duties already imposed on US products will not be refunded, the ministry added.


China waived import tariffs for some soybeans and pork shipments from the Unite States on Dec. 6, before the two sides reached a Phase 1 trade deal to cancel tariffs that were planned to take effect on Dec. 15.


China said it will continue to work on the product exemptions and release the second batch of waiver list at an appropriate time.


The Sino-US trade war has been a major headache for global policymakers as it slowed economic growth worldwide and chilled business investment and confidence.


US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last week acknowledged there remained hard work ahead in the next phase of negotiations. He gave no specific timetable, but said US President Donald Trump did not want to wait until after the 2020 presidential election to wrap up a more comprehensive agreement. Reuters


Meanwhile, China’s commerce ministry said, China and the United States are in touch over the signing of their Phase 1 trade deal, which will see lower US tariffs on Chinese goods and higher Chinese purchases of US farm, energy and manufactured goods.


The Phase 1 deal was announced last week after more than two years of on-and-off trade talks, although neither side has released many specific details of the agreement.


Both the Chinese and US trade teams are in close communication, Gao Feng, a spokesman at the Chinese commerce ministry, told reporters at a regular briefing on Thursday, adding there is no specific information on the deal to disclose currently. “After the official signing of the deal, the content of the agreement will be made public,” Gao said.


US officials say China agreed to increase purchases of US products and services by at least $200 billion over the next two years.


According to Washington, that would include additional purchases of US farm products of $32 billion over two years. That would average an annual total of about $40 billion, compared to a baseline of $24 billion in 2017 before the trade war started.


Chinese officials have so far not publicly confirmed much of Washington’s version — especially on goods purchase commitments.


 — Reuters


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