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The US has secured trade agreements with China and two other Asian countries to freeze or reduce tariffs while opening the door to exemptions for specific products.
President Donald Trump has trimmed 10 percentage points off the import duty for Chinese products, the White House said Saturday. He has done this by halving a fentanyl-related punitive tariff from 20% to 10% as of November 10. This duty is intended to pressure China into curbing the flow of the drug.
As a result, total tariffs on Chinese goods will fall from 57% to 47% on average, Reuters reported.
This move is a response — among other things — to China’s willingness to suspend new export controls on rare earths, which are critical for technology.
The US has also agreed to maintain reciprocal tariffs of 19% on Cambodia and Malaysia under agreements it signed with both countries last week. In both cases, the Trump administration said it had “identified products” from Annex III — a list of products facing potential tariff exemptions — that would “receive a 0% reciprocal tariff rate.” It did not specify what these products were.
Annex III contains a list of products, including diamonds, that the US has expressed willingness to allow into the country without any reciprocal tariffs, but only for countries with which it reaches trade deals.
Meanwhile, the US and Thailand have agreed to a “framework” for a trade agreement that will also peg American tariffs on Thai goods at 19% and “identify” potential exemptions.
China and Thailand are both important manufacturers and exporters of jewelry. For example, Pandora has operated a production facility in the northern Thai town of Lamphun since 2017.
Separately, the American Watch Association (AWA) and the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) filed a brief with the US Supreme Court on October 24 urging it to declare the reciprocal tariffs unlawful. The levies “impose extraordinary costs on American businesses, workers, and consumers without generating any meaningful offsetting benefit,” they argued.
Image: Cargo containers with the American and Chinese flags. (Shutterstock)
