The purpose of this tariff policy adjustment is to safeguard the national interests and balance the losses caused to China's interests by the US tariff measures on imported steel and aluminum products.
It is clear in the notice that China will suspend the implementation of tariff concessions on seven categories of 128 imported goods originating in the United States from today, and impose tariffs on 120 imported goods such as fruits and products at a tax rate of 15%, and impose tariffs on eight categories of imported goods such as pork and products at a tax rate of 25%. The current policies of bonded and tax reduction and exemption remain unchanged. On March 8, 20 18, US President Trump signed an announcement that imported steel and aluminum products threatened US national security and decided to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products from March 23 (that is, 232 measures).
The relevant person in charge of the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance said that the 232 measures violated the relevant rules of the World Trade Organization, did not meet the "security exception" provisions, and actually constituted safeguard measures. This measure has been implemented since March 23rd, which has caused serious damage to the interests of China. The person in charge stressed that China's advocacy and support of the multilateral trading system and the suspension of its duty of tariff concessions to the United States are legitimate measures for China to use the rules of the World Trade Organization to safeguard China's interests.
In response to China's decision to impose tariffs on some products imported from the United States, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce of China said this morning that it is China's legitimate right as a member of the WTO to suspend China's obligations to the United States. It is hoped that the United States will withdraw its measures that violate WTO rules as soon as possible, so that the trade of related products between China and the United States can return to the normal track. As the two largest economies in the world, Sino-US cooperation is the only correct choice. The two sides should solve each other's concerns through dialogue and consultation, achieve common development, and avoid further damage to the overall situation of Sino-US cooperation caused by follow-up actions.
How will consumers in China be affected? CCTV Financial New Media invited experts to interpret it. Liang Ming, director of the Foreign Trade Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that on the whole, it had little impact on the market and consumers. First of all, the share and total amount of these products imported by China from the United States are not large, and its share in the China market is very small. For example, fruit accounts for about 2.7% of the total US exports to China, which is a very small proportion, so the proportion of related products involved in this tariff increase is even smaller.
Liang Ming said that from this perspective, the impact of this part of the tax on prices is very limited. Personally, this tax has almost no impact on the overall price.
Liang Ming, director of the Institute of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said that the domestic market will soon fill the gap between supply and demand of these commodities, and many products can be imported from other domestic countries, so the overall price will not be affected.
Except for fruits, such as wine, it has little impact on the total amount. In addition, this part of imported goods is very substitutable to consumers, and consumers have many other choices.
Liang Ming, director of the Foreign Trade Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that increasing tariffs on the United States and Canada will benefit some domestic agriculture and related industries, such as planting, because the prices of imported products will increase, and the prices of some agricultural products will also increase, but this increase is also very limited. Sustained political influence. In the 20 16 US general election, nine agricultural states except Minnesota supported Trump, so these farmers were important votes for Trump to win the general election. And how much political pressure will China's tariff list mainly for agricultural products bring to the Trump administration? Can it help China and the United States cool trade frictions?
Some people believe that the tariff list that came into effect today sent two signals to the outside world. First, you will find that it does not include major agricultural products such as soybeans exported by the United States. Therefore, this round of response is considered to be relatively measured. The second signal is that this means that China may make a tougher response to the "232 investigation" in the future. Let's start with the first point. In Sino-US trade, one of the biggest weaknesses of the United States is the export of agricultural products.
According to the data, in 20 16, China was the second largest export market of American agricultural products, accounting for 15% of the total export of American agricultural products. In other words, American farmers export agricultural products to China on average about1.2000 USD. Among them, soybeans and soybean products occupy a particularly important position in Sino-US agricultural trade. Last year, the United States exported about $654.38+0.4 billion of soybeans to China. ?
In a recent report, the US Soybean Export Council suggested that if China responded to the Trump administration's tariff policy with soybean tariffs, US soybean exports to China might plummet by 765,438+0%.
Therefore, with the development of trade friction between China and the United States, the American agricultural futures market is also experiencing severe shocks. Previously, due to the fear that the escalation of trade conflicts will lead to the reduction of demand and lower prices in China, the market lacked the sentiment of doing more on agricultural products such as soybeans and corn, and the prices of these two categories of futures experienced continuous decline. ?
However, this morning, because these two agricultural products were not included in China's tariff list, soybean and corn futures prices rebounded rapidly. But this does not mean that the risk has completely subsided. ?
It is reported that China importers have recently started to expand their purchases of soybeans from Brazil and other South American countries, and some China companies have added exit clauses in their purchase agreements with American suppliers, so as to cancel their orders at any time. All these news show that there are still concerns about the escalation of Sino-US trade friction in the market. As we mentioned, the tariff list that came into effect today has not involved the agricultural products that have real interests in the United States, but it does not rule out that we will see China's tougher stance later, including meat products such as cotton, sorghum and pork, and aircraft trade, which may be the next industries affected by trade frictions.