China says US tariff break a ‘small step’ to fixing mistake
The products that will not be subject to Trump’s new tariffs include machines used to make semiconductors
[NEW YORK] China’s government said the US decision to exempt certain consumer electronics from its so-called reciprocal tariffs is a small step towards rectifying its wrongdoings and urged Washington to do more to revoke the levies.
US President Donald Trump’s administration excluded smartphones, computers and other electronics from the increased import duties on Friday (Apr 11), narrowing the scope of his tariffs of 125 per cent on goods from China and a baseline 10 per cent on imports from most other countries.
“This is a small step by the US towards correcting its wrongful action of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’”, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday. The ministry went on to urge the US to “take a big stride in completely abolishing the wrongful action, and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialogue based on mutual respect”.
Trump’s latest exemptions cover almost US$390 billion in US imports based on official US 2024 trade statistics, including more than US$101 billion from China, according to data compiled by Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the Rand China Research Center.
Trump on Saturday declined to elaborate on the exemptions beyond the published memoranda but hinted at further developments on Monday.
“I will give you that answer on Monday. We will be very specific on Monday,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “We are taking in a lot of money; as a country, we are taking in a lot of money.”
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The White House also released a corresponding memo indicating that the exemptions also extend to changes in small-parcel shipping duties. Trump had moved to end the so-called “de minimis” exemption, beginning with China, that generally means parcels worth US$800 or below do not face duties.
The tariff reprieve may prove fleeting. The exclusions stem from the initial order, which prevented extra tariffs on certain sectors from stacking cumulatively on top of the country-wide rates. The exclusion is a sign that the products may soon be subject to a different tariff, albeit almost surely a lower one for China.
The products that will not be subject to Trump’s new tariffs include machines used to make semiconductors. That would be important for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which has announced a major new investment in the US, as well as other chipmakers.
“All products that are properly classified in these listed provisions will be excluded from the reciprocal tariffs,” the notice said.
The move appeared to exclude the products from the 10 per cent global baseline tariff on other countries, including Samsung Electronics’s home of South Korea.
The tariff reprieve does not extend to a separate Trump levy on China – a 20 per cent duty applied to pressure Beijing to crack down on fentanyl, including the shipment of precursor materials. Other previously existing levies, including those that predate Trump’s current term, also appear unaffected. BLOOMBERG
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