The Trump administration said it would delay imposing a 10% tariff on a series of consumer goods imported from China — including laptops and cell phones — until December, in a bid to ease fears about the trade war’s impact on markets and the economy, reported the Financial Times.
The reprieve from Washington, which triggered a relief rally in US equity markets, was announced after Liu He, China’s vice premier, spoke with Robert Lighthizer, US trade representative, and Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury secretary, by phone on Tuesday and agreed to have another conversation in two weeks.
The value of the goods that would see delayed tariffs is about $156 billion, based on full-year 2018 figures, according to an FT analysis. That is more than half the $300 billion of new goods that were set to be subject to the 10% tariff.
Speaking in New Jersey on Tuesday, Trump said he was delaying the new tariffs on some products to protect shoppers “for the Christmas season”. He said the decision was made after a “very good call” with China, and repeated his mantra that Beijing would “really like to make a deal”.
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