China Cuts Import Tariffs to Support High-Tech, Healthcare in 2026 Schedule

China’s State Council has issued the Tariff Adjustment Plan for 2026, updating import and export tariffs on a range of goods and adding new tariff lines to the schedule. The 2026 plan focuses on the development of key industries, in particular those related to high-end technology, the green transition, and healthcare, while upholding the country’s commitments under existing free trade agreements.

The State Council Tariff Commission (SCTC) has released the updated tariff schedule for 2026, implementing new provisional tariff reductions and adjusting tariff lines in efforts to boost development in focus industries and support domestic provision of key services.

The 2026 tariff schedule includes tariff reductions on critical components and materials related to advanced and emerging technologies, renewable energy, and healthcare in particular. Meanwhile, most-favored nation (MFN) tariffs for certain imports previously granted tariff reductions have been restored in response to changing supply and demand in domestic industries.

The new tariff schedule will be implemented from January 1, 2026.

• See also: 2025 Import-Export Tariffs in China: Latest Adjustments

Tariff adjustments in 2026

Tariff reductions

In 2026, China will implement provisional tariff reductions on 935 categories of goods, with new tariff adjustments made to “enhance the synergy between domestic and international markets and resources, and to expand the supply of high-quality goods”. The reductions particularly seek to benefit the development of innovative and emerging technologies – the “new quality productive forces” – and to improve the quality of life in China, in particular by lowering the cost of access to high-quality healthcare services.

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As such, many of the new tariff reductions target key components for emerging technologies, with tariffs reduced on products for use in advanced materials, aviation, lithium-ion batteries, renewable energy, and semiconductors, including CNC hydraulic air cushions, carbon fiber prepreg, recycled black powder, and unroasted pyrite.

Additionally, tariffs have been reduced on a range of healthcare products, including artificial blood vessels, formulated diagnostic kits for sexually transmitted diseases, and angular contact ball bearings for medical devices, among others.

Tariff increases

Starting January 1, 2026, China will also restore MFN rates on certain products that previously enjoyed reduced tariffs, in order to enhance the productivity of domestic industries based on changes in domestic industrial development and supply and demand. These include restoring the MFN rates for imports of commodities such as micro motors, printing machines, and sulfuric acid.

Tariff reductions under FTAs

Special tariff rates negotiated through FTAs will continue to be applied to certain imported goods originating from the 34 trading partners that are covered by China’s 24 FTAs and preferential trade arrangements. 

Further tariff reductions will be implemented in accordance with the FTAs between China and the following countries:

• New Zealand
• Peru
• Switzerland
• South Korea
• Australia
• Pakistan
• Mauritius
• Cambodia
• Nicaragua
• Ecuador
• Serbia
• The Maldives
• The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

Additionally, existing preferential tariff rates will continue to be applied to relevant imported goods, including rates implemented under:

• The FTAs between China and ASEAN, Chile, Singapore, Georgia, Iceland, and Costa Rica;
• The early harvest arrangement of the FTA between China and Honduras;
• The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao;
• The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA); and
• The Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.

Addition of new tariff items

The number of tariff lines will be increased from 8,960 in 2025 to 8,972 in 2026, with additions serving to enhance scientific and technological development and support the development of the circular economy and under-forest economy. The new additions include intelligent biomimetic robots (as well as other robots), bio-aviation kerosene, and under-forest ginseng.

In addition to the new tariff items, updated descriptions have been provided for wild ginseng, forest ginseng, biodiesels, and intelligent bionic robots.

Understanding the China’s 2026 tariff schedule

Bolstering technological self-reliance

The SCTC states that one of the intents of the tariff reductions is to “promote high-level technological self-reliance and the construction of a modern industrial system”, reflecting China’s ongoing efforts to bolster self-reliance in core technologies, such as semiconductors, as well as modernize and move its traditional industries up the value chain.

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The new tariff schedule therefore temporarily reduces tariffs on goods that are essential for the production of advanced materials, such as CNC hydraulic air cushions for presses, for which the tariff has been reduced from 12 percent to 6 percent, and irregularly shaped composite contact strips, for which the tariff will be lowered from 8 percent to 5 percent. Additionally, duties on carbon fiber prepregs for use in aircraft have been lowered from 17 to just 5 percent, in an effort to enhance the competitiveness of China’s aircraft construction industry.

Tariff reductions also extend to specialised equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing, including constant temperature and humidity control devices for coating and developing machines. By lowering import costs for such equipment, the authorities aim to ease constraints in upstream manufacturing processes while domestic capabilities continue to be developed.

The tariff reductions thereby seek to enhance the development of key industries in which China is seeking to bolster its competitiveness and self-reliance, notably aircraft building and semiconductors, two strategically important areas in which it is still reliant on imports.

Supporting the green transition

The second target of the tariff reductions according to the SCTC is to support the “comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development”. As such, tariffs on resource-based commodities that are essential for the production of batteries, namely recycled black powder for use in lithium-ion batteries (for which the tariff has been reduced from 6.5 percent to 3 percent) and unroasted pyrite (further reduced from 1 percent in 2025 to 0 percent in 2026). Tariff reductions for a range of other battery materials and components remain in place from previous years.

China is massively expanding its renewable energy capacity and output, with plans to continue this expansion in the years to come under its dual carbon targets and its carbon reduction commitments set out in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) announced in September 2025. In its NDCs, China has targeted to increase the installed capacity of wind and solar power generation to six times its 2020 levels by 2035, while striving to reach 3,600 GW. Additionally, it aims to make electric vehicles the “main driver” of new vehicle purchases.

Meeting these targets will require sustained, large-scale investment across the clean-energy value chain, particularly in battery manufacturing and energy storage. By lowering tariffs on key upstream inputs, China is seeking to reduce production costs, mitigate supply bottlenecks, and support the domestic scaling of strategic green industries, while also maintaining access to global supply chains at a time of heightened international competition in clean-tech manufacturing.

Improving healthcare provisions

Continuing one of the priorities set out in the 2025 tariff adjustment schedule, China will further reduce tariffs on selected medical equipment and healthcare-related materials in an effort to improve healthcare standards and overall quality of life. The latest reductions focus on both advanced medical devices and diagnostic inputs, reflecting an emphasis on improving access to high-quality treatment and disease detection.

Key tariff cuts include artificial blood vessels, for which tariffs have been reduced from 4 percent to 2 percent, as well as pre-prepared diagnostic reagent kits used to detect hepatitis A, B and C viruses, HIV, and Treponema pallidum (syphilis), which will see tariffs fall from 3 percent to zero. In addition, tariffs on specialised angular contact ball bearings for medical equipment have been halved from 8 percent to 4 percent.

These reductions signal a continued policy focus on lowering the cost of advanced medical technologies and critical diagnostics, supporting both healthcare providers and patients. They also underline China’s broader objective of upgrading its healthcare system through improved access to high-end imported components and materials, while complementing domestic efforts to move up the medical manufacturing value chain.

Significance of the addition of new tariff lines

Beyond adjustments to existing tariff rates, the additions of new tariff lines also closely align with China’s evolving industrial and development priorities, particularly in advanced technologies, the circular economy, and rural economic revitalization.

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For instance, the addition of wild and under-forest ginseng underscores a policy priority that has been increasingly emphasized as part of China’s broader rural revitalization strategy. Developing the under-forest economy, which encompasses economic activities conducted beneath forest canopies, such as the cultivation of medicinal herbs and specialty agricultural products, was explicitly highlighted in the recommendations for the 15th Five-Year Plan. The new additions therefore reflect efforts to standardise classifications, improve regulatory oversight, and support the scaling and commercialization of high-value forest-based products (under-forest ginseng will now be subject to a 20 percent MFN tariff). This, in turn, aligns with broader objectives to raise rural incomes, improve land-use efficiency, and promote more sustainable models of agricultural development.

The inclusion of bio-aviation kerosene, as well as other aviation kerosene, suggests an effort to better differentiate fuels within the tariff framework and to accommodate the development and use of alternative and lower-carbon aviation fuels. This reflects China’s longer-term ambitions to reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation, while supporting the development of more resource-efficient and sustainable energy pathways.

Finally, the addition of tariff lines for intelligent biomimetic robots underscores China’s ambitions in emerging and advanced technologies. Robotics has been identified as a key component of China’s push to develop new quality productive forces, with applications spanning manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and environmental monitoring. By explicitly recognizing intelligent biomimetic robots within the tariff schedule and refining the definitions for intelligent bionic robots, China is signalling a desire to better accommodate technological advances and support domestic innovation and industrial upgrading.

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