China will be adding more US products to its exclusion list for its first round of retaliatory tariffs, which are scheduled to take effect on December 26. The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council made the announcement late last week, a move that is being seen as a broader effort by the country to ease trade tensions following the reaching of a partial deal with the United States.
The additional US products will be the second set of items that will be excluded from China's first round of tariffs, which it had announced as a countermeasure to the Trump Administration's tariffs on Chinese-made goods.
Chinese officials however clarified that the new set of items will only be included in the exclusion list for 12 months starting on December 26. Any tariffs that had already been collected on the products listed will unfortunately not be refunded.
All other products not included in the first and second round of exclusions will apparently still be subject to added tariffs and China does not have any plans of excluding them for the time being. The Commission stated that they will be releasing the official exclusion list of US goods subject to the planned round of tariffs in "due course."
China and the United States reached an agreement on the contents of their phase-one trade deal last week. The world's two largest economies reportedly reached the agreement by adhering to core tenets such as mutual respect and equality. Following the sealing of the partial deal, the United States expressed its intention of eliminating added duties on Chinese-made goods "phase by phase."
China's Ministry of Commerce announced last week that the trade negotiators from both sides are working tirelessly to perform follow-up work. The ministry is hopeful that both sides can work together to eventually have an agreement signed as soon as possible. Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Gao Feng, mentioned that the contents of the phase-one deal should be released to the public once all of the people involved have affixed their official signatures.
Reports citing sources close to the negotiations have revealed that the deal will contain various agreements covering subjects such as technology transfers, agricultural products import and export, intellectual property rights, exchange rates, and financial services agreements. Both the US and China have vowed to accelerate legal approvals within their respective agencies to hasten the signing of the deal.
Global financial markets rejoiced at the news, with stock prices for involved listings surging up. Analysts have pointed out that the eventual signing of the phase-one agreement should not only benefit China and the United States but all other countries as well.
