China’s Tariff Exclusions for US Imports: A Timeline

Posted by Written by Zoey Zhang Reading Time: 5 minutes

Since September 2019, China has been routinely exempting some US goods from China’s retaliatory addition tariffs, amid the protracted US-China trade war.

Here we have presented a timeline and provided links to all the exclusion lists released by the Tariff Commission of the State Council of China for relevant enterprises to check which products can be exempted from China’s additional tariffs.

Exemptions-China-Retaliatory-Tariffs-US-Products

September 16, 2021

Fifth-time extension to tariff exclusion for 81 US goods

Announcement on the Fifth-Time Extension to Tariff Exclusion for US Goods Subject to Additional Tariffs (Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.7)

Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.7 extended a tariff exemption for 81 products imported from the US. The tariff exemption, which was due to expire on September 16, 2021, has now been extended until April 16, 2022.

The items which are exempt from retaliatory Chinese tariff were listed in Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.2 and Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.8.

The 81 products include some shrimp, timber, electric vehicle batteries, microscope, and medical testing instruments.

  • Exclusion list (CN)

May 16, 2021

Fourth-time extension to tariff exclusion for 79 US goods

Announcement on the Fourth-Time Extension to Tariff Exclusion for US Goods Subject to Additional Tariffs (Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.5)

Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.5 extended exemption period of goods covered by Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.4, which was due to expire on May 18, 2021. The tariff waiver on 79 items now has been extended to December 25, 2021.

The 79 US products include medical disinfectants, rare earth ores, silver and gold ores, concentrates, some nickel, aluminum alloy products etc.

  • Exclusion list (CN)

February 26, 2021

Third-time extension to tariff exclusion for 65 US goods

Announcement on the Third-Time Extension to Tariff Exclusion for US Goods Subject to Additional Tariffs (Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.2)

Tariff Commission Announcement [2021] No.2 extended tariff exemption for 65 US goods originally listed in the Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.3. The exemption period was extended from February 27, 2021 to September 16, 2021.

The tariff exclusion list covers timber, presswork, hydraulic motor, laser, magnetic resonance imaging device, microscope and the diffraction equipment, non-invasive ventilators, temperature sensors, infrared spectrometers, gene sequencers, among others.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

December 25, 2020

Second-time extension to tariff exclusion for 6 US goods

Announcement on the Second-Time Extension to Tariff Exclusion for US Goods Subject to Additional Tariffs (Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.10)

Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.10 continued to exempt six types of US products from additional Chinese tariffs until December 25, 2021. The tariff exemption for these products was previously granted by Tariff Commission Announcement [2019] No.8, which was set to expire on December 25, 2020.

The six US imports include white oil, microcrystalline wax, metallocene high density polyethylene, viscosity index improver, etc.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

September 14, 2020

First-time extension to tariff exclusion for 16 US goods

Announcement on the First-Time Extension to Tariff Exclusion for US Goods Subject to Additional Tariffs (Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.8)

Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.8 extended tariff waiver on 16 US products until September 16, 2021. The 16 US products were covered by Tariff Commission Announcement [2019] No.6, which was due to expire on September 16, 2020.

The 16 US products include shrimp and prawn seedlings, cancer drugs, lubricants, animal feeds, pesticides, release agent, and lubricating base oil.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

May 12, 2020

Second-time tariff exclusion for US$60 billion worth US imports

Announcement on the Second-time Exclusion of the Second Batch of Goods Subject to Tariffs Imposed on the US Imports (Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.4).

A list of 79 US imports, including products like medical disinfectants, rare earth ores, silver and gold ores, concentrates, some nickel, aluminum alloy products etc. will be eligible for waivers from Chinese retaliatory tariffs from May 19, 2020 to May 18, 2021.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

Related Reading: China Releases Follow-Up Tariff Exclusion List for US$60bn Worth US Imports

February 21, 2020

First-time tariff exclusion for US$60 billion worth US imports

Announcement on the First-time Exclusion of the Second Batch of Goods Subject to Tariffs Imposed on the US Imports (Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.3) (EN)

The two Exclusion Lists in this announcement respectively exempt 55 and 10 types of US products from paying additional Chinese tariffs. The lists are effective February 28, 2020 to February 27, 2021.

List 1 covers timber, presswork, hydraulic motor, laser, magnetic resonance imaging device, microscope and the diffraction equipment, among 55 other items.

List 2 covers non-invasive ventilators, temperature sensors, infrared spectrometers, and gene sequencers, among other 10 items.

  • Exclusion List 1 (CN)
  • Exclusion List 2 (CN)

Related Reading: China’s Tariff Exemptions for US Imports: New Lists Announced in February

February 17, 2020

Tariff exclusion of US goods under market-oriented procurement

Announcement on Exclusion of Goods under Market-Oriented Procurement from Additional Tariff against US (Tariff Commission Announcement [2020] No.2) (EN)

The tariff exclusion decision doesn’t target a specific batch of US imports that are subject to China’s additional tariffs.

It was rolled out for China to fulfill its commitments made in the phase one trade deal with the US, including purchasing a minimum of US$200 billion worth of additional US goods and services over the next two years.

A total of 696 American products, including pork, beef, soybeans, wheat, corn, sorghum, ethanol, liquefied natural gas, crude oil, steel rails, and some medical equipment can be excluded from the China’s additional counter-tariff.

But enterprises within the territory of China that intend to sign a contract to purchase relevant goods from the US must apply via the declaration system for exclusion: https://gszx.mof.gov.cn.

Within one year from the date of the successful approval, goods within the approved amount will not be subject to China’s retaliatory tariffs.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

December 19, 2019

Second-time tariff exclusion for US$34+16 bn of US imports

Announcement on the Second-time Exclusion of the First Batch of Goods Subject to Tariffs Imposed on the US Imports (Tariff Commission Announcement [2019] No.8)

Six types of US imports, including white oil, microcrystalline wax, metallocene high density polyethylene, etc. will be excluded from additional tariffs from December 26, 2019 to December 25, 2020.

  • Exclusion List (CN)

September 11, 2019

First-time tariff exclusion for US$34+16 bn of US imports

Announcement on the First-time Exclusion of the First Batch of Goods Subject to Tariffs Imposed on the US Imports (Tariff Commission Announcement [2019] No.6)

A list of 16 US imports, which include products like pesticides, animal feeds, lubricants, and cancer drugs, are exempted from paying additional tariffs from September 17, 2019 to September 16, 2020.

Exclusion List 1 cover US products, such as shrimp and prawn seedlings, lubricants, and alfalfa meal and Exclusion List 2 covers products, such as release agent, whey for fodder, Iso-alkane solvent, and lubricating base oil.

  • Exclusion List 1 (CN/EN)
  • Exclusion List 2 (CN/EN)

Related Reading: China Unveils Tariff Exclusion Lists for US Imports – Full Lists Included

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