Tariff Cuts Follow Trump-Xi Meeting
Washington and Beijing will lower duties on about $30 billion of one another's products, marking a further de-escalation just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump held talks in Washington. The matching rosters, made public Monday, span 1,619 types of American goods sold to China — farm products, coal, timber, personal care items and medical equipment among them — plus 77 types of Chinese goods entering the U.S., including fireworks, tableware, glassware, Christmas ornaments and soccer balls.[S1]
China's Commerce Ministry said over 90% of the listed products will be granted most-favored-nation status, which in practice strips away the extra country-specific levies. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer described the arrangement as centered on nonsensitive goods that stand to gain from better tariff terms.[S1]
Economic Impact and Exclusions
According to U.S. officials and analysts, the step may open wider opportunities in China for American farmers, manufacturers and consumer brands, while easing what shoppers at home pay for household items and toys. Left off the list, however, were industries considered strategically sensitive, among them semiconductors, electric vehicles and batteries.[S1]
The arrangement came after Trump and Xi sat down at the White House for the first time since Xi's 2015 state visit. Last week the two sides also pushed their wider trade truce out to January, following a period last year when U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports reached as high as 145%.[S1]
Analysts called the deal an encouraging development, though they cautioned its broader economic effect may be modest relative to the volume of two-way trade. BNP Paribas Wealth Management figures show U.S. exports to China at about $68 billion over the year's first seven months, with Chinese exports to the U.S. at roughly $270 billion during the first eight months.[S1]
Even so, economists anticipate that trade frictions will stay fairly contained for the rest of the year, with Trump and Xi due to meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 summit in Florida in December.[S1]
