US and China still have no timeline for tariff cuts on 60 billion dollars of goods
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James Greer, the US Trade Representative, disclosed that the United States and China have not yet set a timeline for reducing tariffs on goods worth a total of 60 billion dollars, as proposed by the US-China trade committee. Greer said during the G20 trade ministers' meeting in Milwaukee on Thursday, October 1, that the United States needs to complete legal procedures first, and the committee's proposal may be used to inform consideration of future tariff measures. He gave the example that if the USTR investigation into China's excess production capacity, which is still ongoing, concludes that measures should be applied to China, the two countries could use the committee as a forum to discuss trade approaches with each other. However, the mechanism must first be opened to public comment before entering the US legal review process to decide whether it will be enforced, reducing the chance that US consumers will benefit from lower tariff rates in time for the year-end holiday season. Under the proposal, the United States and China would each cut tariffs on 30 billion dollars of goods not in sensitive categories. US goods to be exported to China under the reduced tariff rates include meat and dairy products, while Chinese goods to be imported into the United States include small electrical appliances, toys, and holiday decorations. The US-China trade committee is an intergovernmental negotiating forum, announced after President Donald Trump's visit to China in May and launched after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States in September.