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China waives tariffs on some U.S. soybeans, pork

China is waiving tariffs for some imports of U.S. soybeans, pork, and other commodities to meet domestic demand. The move is seen as a good faith measure as negotiations on phase one of the proposed trade deal continue and new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are scheduled to go into effect December 15th. Some of the sticking points in negotiations include the forced transfer of technology by China, intellectual property concerns, and human rights issues, along with the U.S. refusal to rollback tariffs currently in place or delay those tariffs scheduled to start later this month.

China’s Ministry of Finance has not announced the quantities of U.S. ag goods that will be covered under the waivers.

Prior to the move, U.S. pork had an import duty of 12% with an additional retaliatory tariff of 60% and soybeans had a tariff of 25%.