China cancels planned additional tariffs after deal with US

Beijing: China said on Sunday that it would cancel additional tariffs it was set to impose on US products after both sides reached a partial agreement to mitigate the trade dispute between the two superpowers that has raged on for the past year-and-a-half.

The suspension covers the 10-per cent and 5-per cent additional tariffs, respectively, on the imported products, Xinhua news agency quoted the the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council as saying. However, other tariffs on US goods will continue to be in place, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The statement added that China believed the two countries will address each other’s concerns on the basis of equality and mutual respect and promote the stable development of their bilateral economic and trade relations, reports Efe news.

After nearly 18 months of trade conflict and the continuous escalation of tensions derived from the tariff war, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen on December 13 said that the two sides have reached a first-phase agreement that addresses issues including technology transfer, intellectual property, trade expansion and the establishment of mechanisms for dispute resolution.

Almost simultaneously, US President Donald Trump confirmed the deal in a tweet and said that Washington would not impose the previously-announced fresh tariffs on Chinese goods scheduled to come into effect on Sunday. The cancellation of those tariffs prompted China to also drop its own duties on US goods that had been set as a retaliatory measure.

Trump added that he hoped China would double its annual purchase of US agricultural products worth $50 billion.

However, the US will keep its 25 per cent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, along with reduced charges of 7.5 per cent on additional imports worth $120 billion, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said. China had said that both sides were committed to gradually remove the tariffs imposed by the two countries during the dispute in phases.

Ever since the announcement of a possible agreement in October, negotiations between the Asian and American giants have seen several upheavals, including the spread of contradictory information and mutually-lobbed veiled criticism.

The trade tensions between Beijing and Washington that began in 2018 have had immense international consequences.

For example, the latest global growth forecasts lowered projections of expansion to 3 per cent this year, 0.2 less than in July, according to International Monetary Fund figures published in October. (IANS)

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