Statement of China and the United States on the first stage of economic and trade agreement
According to the state news office, through the joint efforts of the economic and trade teams of China and the United States, the two sides have reached an agreement on the text of the first phase of the economic and trade agreement between China and the United States on the basis of the principles of equality and mutual respect. The text of the agreement includes nine chapters: preamble, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agricultural products, financial services, exchange rate and transparency, expanding trade, bilateral assessment and dispute settlement, and final provisions. At the same time, the two sides reached an agreement that the United States will fulfill the relevant commitments of phasing out the imposition of tariffs on China's products, and realize the change from increasing to reducing the tariffs.
Both parties agree that in the next step, both parties will complete the necessary procedures for legal review and translation school equivalence as soon as possible, and negotiate the specific arrangements for the formal signing of the agreement. The U.S. side has now promised to eliminate some of the tariffs imposed on China's products, and will increase the intensity of tariff exemption for Chinese products exported to the United States. At the same time, China will correspondingly consider not to implement the measures to impose tariffs on the imported products of the United States that were originally planned to take effect on December 15.
On December 13 local time, the United States Trade Representative Office (USTR) also released a statement on the first phase of the economic and trade agreement between China and the United States. The statement said: the United States will maintain a 25% tariff on China's imports of about $250 billion, and the tariff on China's imports of about $120 billion (within the list of 300 billion a already imposed on September 1) will be reduced from 15% to 7.5%.
According to the USTR statement, the U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports will be changed as follows:
Tariffs on $250 billion of goods (34 billion + 16 billion + 200 billion) remained unchanged at 25%.
The tariff on the $300 billion A-list goods (increased on September 1) was reduced from 15% to 7.5%.
The US $300 billion B list commodity (originally scheduled to be added on December 15) will be suspended.
Where is the tariff imposed on scientific instruments
The first round of economic and trade agreement between China and the United States benefits the global financial and capital markets, but where will the scientific instruments at the center of the vortex go?
According to the analysis of the instrument information network, the most direct benefit to the scientific instrument industry is the reduction and suspension of tariffs when the first phase of trade agreement between China and the United States is reached.
The US side has announced in the past that it will increase the tariff from 10% to 15% for us $300 billion of Chinese goods in two batches (September 1 and December 15, 2019), including 15 types of scientific instruments (focusing on the batch that came into effect on December 15). Now the US side announced that the tariff of those goods that came into effect on September 1 would be reduced by 7.5%, and the suspension of the tariff of those goods that came into effect on December 15 would undoubtedly be a great good for these 15 types of scientific instruments.
Although China still has US $250 billion (34 billion + 16 billion + 200 billion) of goods subject to US Canada's 25% tariff, the US side said in the agreement that "it has agreed to substantially modify its article 301 tariff action" and "will fulfill the commitments related to the phased elimination of tariffs on Chinese products", indicating that the high tariff on domestic scientific instruments is expected to be adjusted. Relevant instrument manufacturers can pay attention to the recent announcement issued by the US side to see if there is any exemption policy for scientific instruments.
In addition, the agreement calls for structural and other reforms of China's economic and trade system in areas such as intellectual property rights, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, currency and foreign exchange, including a substantial increase in China's purchases of U.S. goods and services over the next few years, as well as a strong dispute settlement system to ensure rapid and effective implementation. If these measures are to be implemented, they will have a profound impact on China's scientific instrument industry.