China is to cut import tariffs on goods, including machinery, paper, textiles and construction materials, from Nov. 1 in a move that would lower costs for consumers and companies as a trade war with the US deepens.
The decision would lower tariffs for 1,585 products, state radio reported, citing a meeting of the Chinese State Council.
The combination of these and other tariff cuts this year would lower the tax burden on consumers and companies by about 60 billion yuan (US$8.73 billion), the radio reported.
Beijing has yet to detail how the general tariff cut would apply to US goods affected by retaliatory tariffs in the trade war.
In theory, the same goods could receive a lower basic tariff and still have extra duties piled on by the response to US President Donald Trump’s measures.
Whether goods affected by the trade war receive this treatment would depend on which items the government selects to cut duties on. The Chinese government has not yet released that list of the specific goods.
The average import tax for some machinery is to be reduced to 8.8 percent from 12.2 percent, for textiles and construction materials to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, and for paper and some other products to 5.4 percent from 6.6 percent, the radio station reported.
The decision was aimed at meeting the demand of companies to upgrade production and lower costs, and to fulfill the public’s consumption appetite, a statement said.
It follows similar moves earlier this year, which were aimed at reducing prices of imports to stimulate consumption and is in line with China’s pledge to boost imports.
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