BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2019) China has postponed the introduction of additional duties on automobiles and components manufactured in the United States, and Beijing will not introduce duties on some other US goods that were supposed to take effect on December 15, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said.
The United States and China announced on Friday that they had worked out the Phase One trade deal that is expected to be signed in early January. As part of the deal, the sides agreed to not introduce new duties that were planned to go into effect on December 15.
"As part of the implementation of the arrangements reached at the Chinese-US consultations on trade and economic issues, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council decided to not introduce additional duties of 10 percent and 5 percent on a part of US imports, and also to prolong the suspension of the introduction of additional duties on US cars and components, which were originally supposed to enter into force on December 15," the statement said.
The Chinese side expressed hope that Beijing and Washington would be able to resolve the existing problems on the basis of equality and mutual respect.
Trade tensions between the United States and China escalated in late August as China said it would apply tariffs ranging from 5 to 10 percent on $75 billion worth of US goods and a 25-percent duty on US cars. The move followed Washington's decision to impose additional 10 percent tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting September 1 and December 15.
The world's two leading economies have been engaged in a trade war for over a year over what US President Donald Trump deemed unfair economic conditions and noncompetitive behavior from China. China has denied such claims, saying that the trade row is not beneficial to either side or the world economy. The standoff translated into a tit-for-tat hiking of tariffs in imported goods between the countries.
