China: Tariffs to be rolled back as part of trade deal with US

CHINA and the United States have agreed to roll back punitive tariffs against each other gradually as part of their trade deal, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Thursday.

Which tariffs will be rolled back initially will be decided as part of negotiations for the “Phase 1” of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing, ministry spokesman Gao Feng said.

“In the past two weeks, the leaders of the two sides have conducted serious and constructive discussions on properly addressing their core concerns and agreed to cancel the tariff increase in stages with the progress of the agreement,” Gao said during a press briefing.

“Doing so will help stabilize market expectations, benefit the economies of the two countries and the world economy,” he said.

The tariff rollback “is an important condition for reaching an agreement,” Gao added.

US President Donald Trump had said he wanted to sign off on the first part of a trade deal with Chinese President i Jinping in midNovember at an international summit in Chile.

After Chile said last month it could no longer host the summit, both Washington and Beijing said negotiations would continue along the same timeline.

The US has so far imposed tariffs on more than 3 0 billion dollars’ worth of Chinese imports, to which China has retaliated with duties on about 100 billion dollars’ worth of US goods as part of a trade war that is weighing on the world economy.

The Financial Times reported Monday the US was considering rolling back levies on 112 billion dollars’ worth of Chinese imports that were introduced on September 1.

The 15-percent tariffs targeted Chinese consumer goods including televisions, books, nappies and sports shoes.

Besides the tariff rollback, the “Phase 1” of the trade deal is expected to include a commitment by China to step up its purchase of US agricultural products, better protect intellectual property and open up its markets to US financial services firms.

In the past two weeks, the leaders of the two sides have conducted serious and constructive discussions on properly addressing their core concerns and agreed to cancel the tariff increase in stages with the progress of the agreement.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng