NEW YORK, April 25. /TASS/. Beijing has lifted duties on a number of American semiconductors that were imposed in response to the US announcement of customs tariffs on goods from China, the CNN TV channel reported.
“We only found out [about the cancellation of duties] after we filed the declaration,” the TV channel wrote, citing Chen Shaolin, a manager at the Zhengnenliang Supply Chain import agency.
The duty exemption applies to tariffs on eight kinds of integrated circuits, covering most semiconductors except for memory chips. On April 12, China raised retaliatory duties to 125% on all US goods in response to US President Donald Trump increasing duties on Chinese goods to 145%.
According to the customs data, China imported $11.7 billion worth of semiconductors from the US last year, the TV channel said. Although China has made strides in developing its own semiconductor industry, it is still highly dependent on imports of chips and chipmaking equipment from the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Netherlands, the TV channel pointed out.
CNN has not received official confirmation of the partial removal of duties on semiconductors from the Chinese authorities, the publication reads.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories, thus unleashing a massive trade war. On April 9, Trump authorized a 90-day pause on additional reciprocal import tariffs for 75 countries that had expressed their willingness to negotiate. The White House explained that the pause was related to trade negotiations, adding that during this period, a universal tariff of 10% will be in effect. This measure does not apply to China.
The US president then promised that Beijing would be subject to duties of 104% until the Chinese side agreed to a trade deal with the United States. This led to countermeasures: China raised tariffs against the United States to 84%. In turn, Trump announced an immediate rate hike on goods from China to 125%. Considering the rate of 20% imposed earlier for allegedly inefficient efforts by governments of Canada, China, and Mexico in their fight against the fentanyl smuggling, the tariff on goods from China currently totals 145%.
