{"id":1533717,"date":"2025-05-02T13:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1533717"},"modified":"2025-05-02T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:40:00","slug":"china-quietly-walks-back-a-quarter-of-us-import-tariffs-amid-economic-crunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/china-quietly-walks-back-a-quarter-of-us-import-tariffs-amid-economic-crunch\/1533717\/","title":{"rendered":"China Quietly Walks Back A Quarter Of US Import Tariffs Amid Economic Crunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

China Quietly Walks Back A Quarter Of US Import Tariffs Amid Economic Crunch<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

China has quietly started to exempt some US goods from tariffs that likely cover around $40 billion worth of imports (or around 24% of Chinese imports from the US in 2024)<\/strong>, in what looks like an effort to soften the blow of the trade war on its own economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is likely trying to mitigate damage to its economy by avoiding a collapse in key imports,\u201d DiPippo said.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe exemptions shouldn\u2019t be interpreted as a signal to the US, as China has been quiet about its exemptions, working through business channels and avoiding public statements<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While this move mirrors the shift by the Trump administration –\u00a0exempting smartphones and other electronics from its own \u201creciprocal\u201d 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) – we suspect there is more behind this decision.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

As we highlighted just a week ago, <\/a>China’s already fragile economy faced a serious crisis from the tariff-driven cuts to supply of US ethane and the potential for that to force mass plastics factory closures.<\/p>\n

“The situation is dire for China\u2019s ethane crackers as they have no alternative to US supply,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Manish Sejwal, an analyst at\u00a0Rystad Energy AS, using an industry term for such facilities.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0“Unless they are granted tariff exemptions, they may have to stop production or close shop.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Well guess what just happened… buried deep among the 131 items is, you guessed it – industrial chemicals (which likely includes US Ethane supplies).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Bloomberg reports that it\u2019s unclear where the list came from and it hasn\u2019t 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,<\/strong> according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.<\/p>\n

No matter the reason – forced by factory closure crisis or simply goodwill – there are tentative signs the US-China trade standoff could be shifting.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Friday it\u2019s assessing the possibility of trade talks with the US, giving a lift to equity markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US has recently sent messages to China through relevant parties, hoping to start talks with China,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>the ministry said in a statement released during a mainland holiday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is currently evaluating this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of the tit-for-tat escalation and de-escalation is very similar to last time (though this time the pain was far greater to prompt the walkbacks on both sides)…<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The list of exemptions is said to be dynamic <\/strong>and will be continuously adjusted depending on China\u2019s needs, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 05\/02\/2025 – 09:40<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/china-quietly-walks-back-quarter-us-import-tariffs-amid-economic-crunch<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China Quietly Walks Back A Quarter Of US Import Tariffs Amid Economic Crunch China has quietly started to exempt some US goods from tariffs that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1533718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1533717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6qZn","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/2025-05-02_06-04-56-ncMR1t.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1533717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1533718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1533717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1533717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1533717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}