China to halve tariffs on 1,717 products imported from the United States

China said on Thursday it will halve additional tariffs levied against 1,717 products imported from the United States last year, following the signing of a Phase 1 trade deal that brought a truce to a bruising trade war.

China's finance ministry said in a statement that tariff reductions for the relevant goods, which were implemented on Sept. 1, will take effect from 0501 GMT on Feb. 14.

The reductions come about three weeks after the two countries signed the Phase 1 trade deal in Washington. That agreement included China's promise to boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the United States rolling back some tariffs imposed against Chinese goods.

The news was positive for financial markets and comes as Beijing seeks to shore up investor and business confidence in China as a virus outbreak casts deep uncertainty over the economic outlook.

After the announcement, the yuan hit its highest in two weeks while Asian stocks and Wall Street futures also rallied.

China's finance ministry said in a statement that additional tariffs levied on some goods will be cut to 5% from 10% previously, while extra tariffs on some goods will be lowered to 2.5% from 5% previously. The ministry did not state the value of the goods that are affected by the decision.

China hopes it and the United States can abide by the trade deal and implement it to boost market confidence, push bilateral trade development and aid global economic growth, the ministry added.

Some analysts said following the trade deal that China may need to roll back some of the tariffs on U.S. goods such as soybeans and crude oil in order to meet its purchasing commitments.

 

(Reporting by Se Young Lee, Lusha Zhang and Yawen Chen; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Sam Holmes)