China Rules Out 25% LNG Tariff for Now

The US and Chinese leaders agreed in Argentina December 1 not to increase tariffs from 10% to 25% on a wide range of products for now. For China, they include LNG imports from the US.

A statement from the US White House said that president Donald Trump agreed to “leave the tariffs on $200bn worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time.” It added that, with effect from January 1 2019, China will agree to purchase a "not-yet-agreed but very substantial” amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other US products to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries.

China’s president Xi Jinping and Trump “reached a consensus, stopped adding new tariffs, and instructed the economic teams of the two countries to intensify consultations and move toward the elimination of all tariff increases,” reported Xinhua state news agency.

The White House though noted that China and Washington DC engage to reach a further agreement within the next 90 days regarding cyber-crime, intellectual property and other matters, but that if they cannot reach an agreement by then, the 10% tariffs will be raised to 25%.

China confirmed September 18 its implementation of a 10% tariff  on US LNG imports, effective September 24. One month previously Beijing had said it would raise such tariffs from 10% to 25% at a later stage; however the December 1 US-China agreement – reached after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires– appears to have deferred any such implementation for at least 90 days.