U.S. delays tariffs on some goods from China

WASHINGTON >> Responding to pressure from businesses and growing fears that a trade war is threatening the U.S. economy, the Trump administration is delaying some import taxes it planned to impose on Chinese goods and is dropping others altogether.

The announcement Tuesday from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative was greeted with relief on Wall Street and by retailers who have grown fearful that the new tariffs would wreck holiday sales.

The administration says it still plans to proceed with 10% tariffs on about $300 billion in Chinese imports — extending its import taxes on just about everything China ships to the United States in a dispute over Beijing’s strong-arm trade policies. Most of the new tariffs are scheduled to kick in Sept. 1.

But under pressure from retailers and other businesses, President Donald Trump’s trade office said it would delay until Dec. 15 the 10% tariffs on some Chinese imports, including such popular consumer goods as cellphones, laptops, video game consoles, some toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing.

The administration is also removing other items from the tariff list entirely, based on what it called “health, safety, national security and other factors.”

The news sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring more than 400 points at midday. Shares of Apple, Mattel and shoe brand Steve Madden, which stand to benefit from the delayed tariffs, particularly shot up on the news.

The delay seemed timed to cushion, until after the holiday shopping season, the financial and perhaps political impact of escalating tariffs on consumer goods, which would likely force retailers to raise prices.

Trump acknowledged as much in an exchange with reporters in New Jersey, saying he was delaying the tariffs so they wouldn’t affect the critically important Christmas shopping season. He also noted that the stock market rallied on the news.

Hun Quach, vice president of international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, welcomed the administration’s delay in the new tariffs on many consumer goods, saying it “will mitigate some pain for consumers through the holiday shopping season.”

Separately, China’s Ministry of Commerce reported that top Chinese negotiators had spoken by phone with their U.S. counterparts, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and planned to talk again in two weeks.

Together, the news of negotiations and tariff delays provided at least a respite after weeks of heightened U.S.-China trade

KIN CHEUNG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A staff member works on a mobile phone production line in Huawei factory in China’s Guangdong province. Huawei Technologies Co. is one of the world’s biggest supplier of telecommunications equipment. The United States is delaying tariffs on Chinese-made cellphones, laptop computers and other items and removing other Chinese imports from its target list altogether in a move that triggered a rally on Wall Street.