China draws up list of U.S.-made goods exempt from 125% tariffs, sources say

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 10:36 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

China has created a list of U.S.-made products that would beryllium exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is softly notifying companies astir the policy, two people acquainted with the substance said, arsenic Beijing seeks to ease the interaction of its commercialized warfare with Washington.

China has already granted tariff exemptions connected select products, including prime pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines, and was asking firms to place captious goods they request levy-free, Reuters reported past week. However, the existence of a "whitelist" had not been previously reported.

The quiescent attack allows Beijing, which has repeatedly said it is consenting to combat until the extremity unless the U.S. lifts its 145 per cent tariffs, to support its nationalist messaging portion privately taking applicable steps to supply concessions.

It was not instantly wide however galore and which products have been included connected the list, which authorities person not shared publicly, the 2 sources said, declining to beryllium named as the accusation was not public.

Companies alternatively are being privately contacted by authorities and notified of the beingness of a database of product classifications that would beryllium exempted from the tariffs, according to 1 of the sources who works astatine a cause company selling U.S.-made medicines successful China.

The institution was contacted by the Shanghai Pudong government on Monday astir the list, the root said, adding the steadfast had previously lobbied for tariff exemptions arsenic it relies connected U.S. technologies for immoderate of its products.

"We inactive person galore technologies we request from the U.S.," the person said.

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Another root said immoderate companies person been asked to privately interaction authorities to inquire if their ain imported products suffice for the exemption.

The database of exempted products besides appears to beryllium growing: China has waived tariffs connected ethane imports from the U.S., Reuters reported connected Tuesday.

Major ethane processors had already sought tariff waivers from Beijing due to the fact that the U.S. is the lone supplier.

U.S. President Donald Trump said connected Tuesday helium thought a trade woody with China was connected the horizon.

"But it's going to be a just deal," helium said.

China's commerce and customs ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gauging interaction of tariff war

Two different sources said China is besides surveying companies to gauge the interaction of the tariff war.

In a caller meeting, authorities successful eastbound China asked a foreign concern lobby radical to "communicate each critical situations caused by tariff tensions to measure specific cases," a idiosyncratic with nonstop cognition of the substance told Reuters.

The idiosyncratic declined to sanction the metropolis wherever the authorities held the gathering arsenic the gathering was not public.

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Government officials successful Xiamen, a metropolis successful southeastern Fujian state that is location to a large larboard and a manufacturing base for electronics, besides sent retired a survey connected Sunday to companies to measure tariff impacts, said a root with direct knowledge of the matter.

The survey was sent to textiles firms and semiconductor companies and included questions connected products they commercialized with the U.S. and the estimated interaction of the U.S. and Chinese tariffs on their business, the root said.