It’s being reported that China has just exempted $40 billion in US products from their trade war tariffs as they try to mitigate damage to their own economy.
But they are also signaling that they may be coming to the negotiating table with President Trump soon to try and remedy this trade war, which is a good sign.
Here’s the news via Bloomberg:
China has quietly started to exempt some US goods from tariffs that likely cover around $40 billion worth of imports, in what looks like an effort to soften the blow of the trade war on its own economy.
A list of exempted US products covering 131 items like pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals has been circulating among traders and businesses over the past week. Some of these products were previously reported by Bloomberg News.
It’s unclear where the list came from and it hasn’t been officially confirmed, but at least half a dozen companies in China have been able to bring in goods from the list without paying tariffs, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
The 131 items are worth about $40 billion, or around 24% of Chinese imports from the US in 2024, Bloomberg calculations based on China customs data show.
The move echoes steps taken by the Trump administration to exempt smartphones and other electronics from its own “reciprocal” tariffs, including the 145% levies on China. Those US exemptions apply to about $102 billion, or roughly 22% of US imports from China last year, according to estimates by Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the RAND China Research Center.
The notion that China’s exemptions largely mirror the US ones suggests this is more of a strategic move to match Washington’s actions rather than purely a goodwill gesture. It also points to Beijing’s priority of shielding its own economy from the fallout of the trade war.
There are tentative signs the US-China trade standoff could be shifting. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Friday it’s assessing the possibility of trade talks with the US, giving a lift to equity markets.
“The US has recently sent messages to China through relevant parties, hoping to start talks with China,” the ministry said in a statement released during a mainland holiday. “China is currently evaluating this.”