Inflation: U.S. considers ending some tariffs against China

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday said the country was considering ending some Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to control domestic inflation.

The Chinese-language paper Lianhe Zaobao reported that the U.S. President Joe Biden had asked Raimondo and other administration officials to analyse possible plans for lifting some of the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese imports.

Raimondo said the current administration has decided to maintain tariffs on steel and aluminum to protect the domestic steel industry but she added that it "may make sense'' to lift tariffs on products like household goods and bicycles.

As Americans are suffering from rising prices of consumer goods, Biden said earlier that fighting inflation was his top economic priority.

On March 22, 2018, Trump signed a memorandum under the Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, instructing the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to apply tariffs of 50 billion dollars on Chinese goods.

Trump said the tariffs would be imposed due to Chinese theft of U.S intellectual property, adding that the planned tariffs on Chinese imports would make the United States "a much stronger, much richer nation''.

However, the steps toward imposing the tariffs led to increased concerns of a global trade war.

In response, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China announced plans to implement its own tariffs on 128 U.S. products with 120 of those products such as fruits and wine, would be taxed at a 15 per cent duty

China said the remaining eight products, including pork, will receive a 25 per cent tariff.

China implemented their tariffs on April 2, 2018.

On June 15, 2018, Donald Trump released a list of 34 billion dollars of Chinese goods to face a 25 per cent tariff, starting on July 6.

Another list with 16 billion dollars of Chinese goods was released, with an implementation date of Aug. 23.

On July 10, 2018, the United States Trade Representative, in reaction to China's retaliatory tariffs that took effect July 6, requested comments.

It also gave notice of public hearings and issued a proposed list of Chinese products amounting to an annual trade value of about 200 billion dollar.

This according to it, will be subjected to an additional 10 per cent in duties on top of what those imported articles would normally pay.

In 2018 China ended its domestic ownership rules for auto companies and financial institutions.

The rules required that auto companies and financial institutions in China be at least 50 per cent owned by Chinese companies.

The change was seen as benefitting U.S. auto companies including Tesla.

During the June 2019 G20 Osaka summit, China and America agreed to resume stalled trade talks, with Trump announcing he would suspend an additional 300 billion dollars in tariffs that had been under consideration after talks failed.

Trump asserted China had agreed to buy a "tremendous amount" of American farm products, although there were no specifics or confirmation of this by China.

People familiar with the negotiations later said China made no explicit commitment as Trump had described.