A list of 131 categories of products that are being studied for tariff exemptions circulated on Friday on Chinese social media platforms and among companies and commercial groups. Reuters could not check the list, which included elements ranging from vaccines and chemicals to jet engines.
Huatai Securities said that the list corresponded to US 45 billion import dollars in China last year.
The Chinese Customs Agency and the Ministry of Commerce did not respond to requests for comments. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that he did not know the price exemption plans, redirecting requests to “competent authorities”.
Sustainable fight
Although Washington said that the commercial confrontation with China was economically untenable and already offered tariff exemptions to certain electronic products, China said on several occasions that it was willing to fight to the end, unless the United States raised its 145%tariffs.
However, the Chinese economy was headed for the trade war with the increase in unemployment, deflationary pressures and increased concern that an unsold export arrears could further reduce domestic prices.
While China has carried out a trade surplus of almost $ 1 Billion in 2024, it also relies on the United States for key imports, including ethane, a petrochemical necessary to make plastics and certain drugs.
Large pharmaceutical companies, including Astrazeneca and GSK, have at least one manufacturing site in the United States for medicines sold in China, according to Chinese government data.
The main ethane processors have already requested pricing derogations from Beijing because the United States is the only supplier.
Exemptions may not be a small step in a long process.
“For goods manufactured in the United States which cannot be purchased in another country, I think there is an interest in exempting them from import prices, even if it is done unilaterally,” said Montufar-Helu.
“But for some other goods such as energy and agricultural products, I think that the calculation is very different, since there are other sources that China can exploit.”
