Tariffs on China imports: US reinstates 352 expired product exclusions

WASHINGTON • The United States Trade Representative's (USTR) office has reinstated 352 expired product exclusions from US "Section 301" tariffs on Chinese imports, well short of the 549 exclusions that it was previously considering.

The reinstated product exclusions will be effective retroactively from Oct 12 last year and extend until the end of this year, USTR said on Wednesday. They cover a wide range of the initially estimated US$370 billion (S$502 billion) worth of Chinese imports that former president Donald Trump hit with punitive tariffs of 7.5 per cent to 25 per cent.

The list released by USTR includes industrial components such as pumps and electric motors, certain car parts and chemicals, backpacks, bicycles, vacuum cleaners and other consumer goods.

A spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry said yesterday the US decision was beneficial to normalising the trade flow of those products, and it was hoped that bilateral trade relations will get back on a normal track.

"Amid inflation spikes and challenges to the global economic recovery, we hope the US could scrap all tariffs on Chinese products as soon as possible for the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in China and the US," spokesman Shu Jueting said.

The Trump administration initially granted more than 2,200 exclusions to the tariffs to provide relief to certain industries and retailers. Most were allowed to expire, but 549 were extended for a year, and these expired at the end of 2020.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai last October launched a review of whether to reinstate those 549 exclusions as part of her strategy to confront China on its trade practices.

A series of virtual meetings with her Chinese counterparts since then yielded little improvement in China's performance under Mr Trump's "phase one" trade agreement with Beijing. She has pledged to "engage robustly" with Beijing over its commitment to the deal, but said in January that "we're in a very difficult stage of this trade relationship" and "the conversations are not easy".

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE