The U.S.-China Board of Trade has recommended reduced tariff treatment for non-sensitive goods covering roughly $30 billion in imports for each country, the Trump Administration said Sunday.
“From agricultural products to medical devices, President [Donald] Trump is unlocking improved market access for about 30 percent of U.S. exports to China, while benefiting consumers with imports from China of household goods, toys, and other products that the United States generally does not import from other countries," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
How much tariffs could be reduced and when they could occur was not detailed in documentation released by the White House. Future duty reductions for U.S. imports and China imports covered in the arrangement "will be determined and implemented in accordance with each side’s domestic legal processes," per a terms of reference document.
"The White House document is vague on when consumers may see these tariff cuts in the store," Wendy Cutler, senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said in a LinkedIn post. "Both sides need to go through their domestic procedures. Unclear if this means for the US seeking public comments on the product list, although the way [the] document is written it doesn’t seem to be very open to revisions."
The Board of Trade — first announced in May — is composed of government officials from the U.S. and China, including Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and He Lifeng, China's Vice Premier of the State Council. The board's mission "is to optimize bilateral trade" and features regular meetings between deputies of Greer, Bessent and Lifeng, who can submit proposals to board leaders for consideration, per a working procedures document.
Deputies for the U.S. and China will monitor and assess bilateral trade for the products included in Sunday's announcement, and favorable tariff treatment could be expanded to additional items, according to the terms of reference.
The announcement, following China President Xi Jinping's visit to the White House last week, came after the U.S. and China agreed to extend a trade truce set to expire in November by another two months.
