How China tariffs on US commodities, energy stand after ‘phase one’ trade deal1
China and the United States have agreed terms of a “phase one” trade deal under which Washington reduced some tariffs and Beijing canceled retaliatory duties that were previously scheduled to take effect on Dec. 15.
Before Sunday’s deal, US corn, sorghum, wheat, undenatured ethanol, and refined copper cathodes had faced an additional tariff of 10 percent an imports into China. Propane, cotton, aluminum scrap, copper scrap and rare earth magnets were all set for an additional 5 percent duty.
Below is a list and timeline showing how China’s tariffs on key US commodities and energy items stand after the “phase one” accord.
Beijing imposed a 5 percent tariff on US crude oil shipments from Sept. 1, the first time US oil had been targeted since the trade war between the world’s top two economies started more than a year ago. The 5 percent tariff was not affected by Sunday’s deal.
China, the world’s biggest crude importer, has sharply lowered US shipments from a record high hit last year. Chinese customs data showed imports in the first 10 months were halved year-on-year to 146,275 barrels per day.
China removed an additional 5 percent tariff on US propane shipments which was set to take effect from Dec. 1. A 25 percent duty that Beijing imposed on US propane on Aug. 23, 2018 remains in place.
Chinese firms process US propane into petrochemicals such as propylene. Imports last year were worth an estimated $2 billion.
China imposed a 10 percent punitive tariff on US LNG shipments in September 2018, raising it to 25 percent in June. LNG duties were not affected by Sunday’s deal.
Imports of the super-chilled fuel in the first 10 months of 2019 shrank 87.2 percent on the year to 258,955 tonnes, according to Chinese customs.
China imposed tariffs of 25 percent on US methanol and MEG in June this year. These were not affected by Sunday’s deal.
No additional duty had been scheduled to come into effect on Dec. 15.
A 25 percent tariff on soybeans in July 2018 had halted all buying by commercial buyers, but Chinese crushers went back to the US market following a trade truce leaders in the two countries agreed in December last year. An additional 5 percent duty came into effect in September. The Chinese government has given tariff exemptions to some US soybean imports.
China bought 11.3 million tonnes of soybeans from the United States in January-October, down 31.8 percent from last year. US has sold at least another 1.5 million tonnes of beans to Chinese crushers since early November
American pork faces total import duties of 72 percent after including the 12 percent ‘most-favoured nation’ tariff. These duties were not changed in Sunday’s deal, but Beijing is expected to boost US meat imports into China, where a severe African swine fever disease has decimated the world’s largest pig herd and sent domestic pork prices soaring to record levels.
An additional duty of 5 percent on US aluminum scrap, which was to go into effect on Dec. 15, has been canceled. The material was already affected by an initial 25 percent tariff in April 2018, following by another 25 percent hike in August 2018.
Shipments to China were down only 17.3 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2019, but those of US scrap copper, subject to a 25 percent tariff since August 2018, crashed by 76.6 percent over the same period.