BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Dec 24 (Reuters) - China and the United States have agreed terms of a
Phase 1 trade deal under which the United States reduced some tariffs and Beijing cancelled
retaliatory duties that were scheduled to take effect on Dec. 15.
Before Sunday's deal, U.S. corn, sorghum, wheat, undenatured ethanol and refined copper
cathodes had faced an additional tariff of 10% on shipments to China. Propane, cotton, aluminium
scrap, copper scrap and rare earth magnets were all set for an additional 5% duty.
Below is a list and timeline showing how China's tariffs on key U.S. commodities and energy
items stand after the Phase 1 accord.
CRUDE OIL
China imposed a 5% tariff on U.S. crude oil shipments from Sept. 1, the first time U.S. oil
had been targeted since the trade war between the world's top two economies started more than a
year ago. The 5% tariff was not affected by Sunday's deal.
China, the world's biggest crude importer, has sharply lowered U.S. shipments from a record
high last year. Chinese customs data showed imports in the first 10 months were halved
year-on-year to 146,275 barrels per day.
PROPANE
China removed an additional 5% tariff on U.S. propane shipments which was set to take effect
from Dec. 1. A 25% duty that China imposed on U.S. propane on Aug. 23, 2018, remains in place.
Chinese firms process U.S. propane into petrochemicals such as propylene. Imports last year
were worth an estimated $2 billion.
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG)
China imposed a 10% punitive tariff on U.S. LNG shipments in September 2018, raising it to
25% in June. LNG duties were not affected by Sunday's deal.
Imports of the super-chilled fuel in the first 10 months of 2019 shrank 87.2% on the year to
258,955 tonnes, according to Chinese customs.
METHANOL, ETHYLENE GLYCOL (MEG)
China imposed tariffs of 25% on U.S. methanol and MEG in June this year. These were not
affected by Sunday's deal.
SOYBEANS
No additional duty had been scheduled to come into effect on Dec. 15.
A 25% tariff on soybeans in July 2018 had halted all buying by commercial buyers, but
Chinese crushers went back to the U.S. market following a trade truce in December last year. An
additional 5% duty came into effect in September. The Chinese government has given tariff
exemptions to some U.S. soybean imports.
China bought 11.3 million tonnes of soybeans from the United States in January-October, down
31.8% from last year. The United States has sold at least another 1.5 million tonnes of beans to
Chinese crushers since early November
PORK
American pork faces total import duties of 72% after including the 12% "most-favoured
nation" tariff. These duties were not changed in Sunday's deal, but China is expected to boost
U.S. meat imports. An outbreak of African swine fever in China has decimated the world's largest
pig herd and sent domestic pork prices soaring to record levels.
Total import tariffs on U.S. pork will go down to 68% in the new year, when tariff rate cut
on frozen pork shipments takes effect.
SCRAP METAL
An additional duty of 5% on U.S. aluminium scrap, which was to go into effect on Dec. 15,
has been cancelled. The material was already affected by an initial 25% tariff in April 2018,
following by another 25% increase in August 2018.
Shipments to China were down only 17.3% year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2019, but
those of U.S. scrap copper, subject to a 25% tariff since August 2018, crashed by 76.6% over the
same period.
RARE EARTHS
China, which this year raised the prospect of restricting rare earth exports to the United
States but has not announced any formal measures, removed the extra 5% tariff on imports of U.S.
permanent rare earth magnets from December as part of the Phase 1 deal. There has been a 25%
tariff on U.S. rare earth ore imports since June 2019.
Month when April July August Septem June Septem TOTAL TRADE WAR
tariffs became 2018 2018 2018 ber 2019 ber RELATED TARIFFS
effective 2018 2019
ENERGY
Crude oil 5% 5%
Natural Gas 25% 25%
LNG 10% to 25% 25%
Propane 25% 25%
Methanol 10% to 25% 25%
AGRICULTURE
Soybeans 25% 5% 30%
Pork 25% 25% 10% 60%
Beef 25% 10% 35%
Corn 25% 25%
Sorghum 25% 25%
Wheat 25% 25%
Ethanol 15% 25% 40%
(denatured)
Ethanol 0%
(undenatured)
Cotton 25% 25%
METALS
Aluminium scrap 25% 25% 50%
Copper scrap 25% 25%
Refined copper 10% to 25% 25%
cathodes
Copper 10% to 25% 25%
concentrate
Zinc concentrate 10% to 25% 25%
Nickel 10% to 25% 25%
concentrate
Rare earth 10% to 25% 25%
magnets
Rare earth ore 10% to 25% 25%
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu, Muyu Xu, Dominique Patton, Tom Daly, Shivani Singh and Hallie Gu
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell, Robert Birsel)
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