Trump grants tariff exemptions to hundreds of Chinese products

The US is temporarily exempting over 400 Chinese products from tariffs imposed last year, revealed the office of the US Trade Representative on Friday.

According to Politico, the exclusions include products like Christmas tree lights, plastic straws, dog leashes and printed circuit boards which were part of the $250bn-worth of Chinese goods that the US hit with tariffs in 2018.

The exemptions were assigned in three different sets. One set was based on the 24 September of 2018 implementation of tariffs on $200bn-worth of Chinese goods and the exemption would expire in August 2020.

Another was based on the 23 August of 2018 implementation of tariffs on $16bn-worth of goods and would expire one year from the publication of the notice.

The last set of exclusions was based on tariffs on $34bn-worth of goods that took effect 6 July of 2018, which would similarly also expire in a year's time.

The exemptions were expected to provide relief to some US companies that have been harmed by Trump’s tariffs.

Just the day before, the US Chamber of Commerce published the results of a study showing that 40% of midsize company leaders in the US said Trump's tariffs on imported goods were a challenge for their business.

The USTR's move came as the United States and China are preparing for another round of high-level trade talks in early October.