China on Tuesday released a new list of US products that will be exempted from the second round of additional tariffs on American goods. This is the second list of US goods to be excluded from the second round of tariff countermeasures, Xinhua news agency quoted the Customs Tariff Commission of China's State Council as saying.
The exemption will be valid from May 19, 2020 to May 18, 2021, it said. Tariffs that have already been levied will be refunded, said the statement. The remaining US products subject to China's second round of additional tariffs will not be excluded for the time being, it said.
Products not on the first two lists
For US products that are not on the first two lists, the Commission advised enterprises to apply for the exemption of additional tariffs following a specific product list that applies to domestic firms which plan to sign deals to purchase and import these products from Washington in a market-oriented and commercial fashion.
This comes after China and the US on May 8 pledged to continue implementing the first phase of their trade agreement which was signed on January 15, despite tensions between the two countries over the origin of the novel coronavirus, Efe news reported.
The US and China signed a preliminary agreement on January 15 which, nonetheless, kept most of the tariffs imposed in the preceding months intact. China pledged to boost its imports of US goods and services by $200 billion over the next two years in return for the US revoking some tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.
The imports to China include $32 billion in additional agricultural purchases, $52 billion in energy products and $78 billion in additional manufactured goods. Meanwhile, the US agreed to reduce the tariff from 15 to 7.5 per cent on $120 billion worth of Chinese goods and cancel additional levies.
