China’s Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said amid high inflation, it is in the interest of US companies and consumers to lift US tariffs on Chinese goods.
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“In the current climate of high inflation, lifting tariffs on Chinese goods is in the fundamental interest of US consumers and businesses,” he said.
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Gao Feng says that the unilateral increase in tariffs by the US does not benefit China, the US itself, and the world.
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On January 15, 2020, after much negotiation, the US and China signed the first part of a trade agreement, under which Washington retained 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods a year, along with 7.5% on $120 billion worth of goods.
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The agreement also stipulates that the Chinese side will purchase US $75 billion worth of industrial goods, $50 billion worth of energy products, $40 billion worth of agricultural products, and China should spend another $35-40 billion on services over two years. This is how the United States hopes to bring the imbalance in trade with China, which totaled hundreds of billions of dollars, to a “fair denominator.”
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Not so long ago, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China said that during the two years of the first phase of the agreement, China has made great efforts to overcome the economic consequences of the pandemic in order to comply with all bilateral agreements. Beijing expressed hope that the United States will do everything necessary to create favorable conditions for the further expansion of bilateral trade.