China cuts in half recent tariffs on U.S. meat and soybeans

China announced today that it has cut in half the $75 billion in tariffs it placed on American products, including pork, chicken, beef and soybeans, in late 2019. The move was "a sign that Beijing is implementing the phase-one deal with United States despite the coronavirus outbreak," which had raised questions about that, report Zhou Xin and Cissy Zhou of the South China Morning Post.

"The Chinese government said that the planned reduction of tariffs on U.S. products was in response to a decision by the U.S. to halve 15 per cent an additional tariff on $120 billion of Chinese goods to 7.5 per cent," the Post reports. "China said on Thursday that it remained committed to the eventual goal of removing all additional tariffs imposed on each other since the tariff war started in early 2018."

Observers of international trade thought China might "delay some of the phase one commitments as it attempts to deal with the rampant spread of the coronavirus, which has placed large swaths of the economy on lockdown," the Post notes. "The deal states that the U.S. and China will 'consult' each other if there is a 'natural disaster' or other emergency that could affect commitments. . . . Chinese buyers have yet to make large-scale purchases of U.S. farm goods in 2020, partly due to the Lunar New Year holiday, which fell early this year, and also due to the shutdown due to the coronavirus." But also, "Market sources told AgriCensus that Chinese soybean crushers had bought 'at least 1 million metric tons of soybeans from Brazil' since the end of the extended holiday period."