China to cut tariffs in half on $75 billion of U.S. goods

China has said it will cut tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports by half, starting next week.mIn a statement, China’s Ministry of Finance said 10% tariffs on some U.S. goods would be cut to 5%, while other goods that have faced 5% levies will have those cut to 2.5%, starting at 1:01 p.m. Feb. 14, Beijing time. The ministry said the move was made “In order to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations.”

While the statement did not mention the current coronavirus outbreak, on Saturday the ministry suspended tariffs  against some U.S. imports that could be used to help treat victims of the epidemic.mThe retaliatory tariffs by China had been put into effect September 1, as the U.S. similarly raised tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese goods. In January, the U.S. and China signed a phase one trade deal, signalling a truce in a year long trade war. The deal cuts U.S. tariffs to 7.5% on about $120 billion in Chinese goods, but kept in place tariffs on about $360 billion of Chinese imports. President Donald Trump said those tariffs would stay in place until there’s a “phase two” trade deal.

U.S. stock futures gained after the announcement, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, S&P 500 futures  and Nasdaq futures   all ticking up. Asian markets, which had been rising before the news, continued their gains, with indexes in Japan  and Hong Kong   up around 2%.

Source: MarketWatch