China seeks to defuse trade war with reversals on cars, corn

China took more steps to defuse trade tensions with the US, confirming it will remove the retaliatory duty on automobiles imported from America and preparing to restart purchases of American corn.

The 25 per cent tariff imposed on vehicles as a tit-for-tat measure will be scrapped starting January 1, the Chinese finance ministry said on Friday. China also may buy at least 3 million metric tonnes of American corn, said people familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be named as the information is confidential.

The moves come two weeks after President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a truce in the trade war at their meeting in Argentina. Trump claimed he won a concession during talks with Xi and said China, the world’s biggest automobile market, would reduce and remove tariffs, a claim that Beijing didn’t immediately confirm.

The White House also officially delayed a rise in tariffs on $200 billion of products that had been due on January 1. The increase will now take effect on March 2, according to a US Trade Representative statement on Friday.


What’s happened and what’s next

Despite the latest concessions, there remains doubt in Washington and Beijing over whether China is willing to water down its plans to match and exceed US industrial strength, which are one of the root causes of the current fight.

China’s top leaders are expected to meet next week to decide economic policies for 2019. Their focus will be on how they propose to sustain stable growth when faced with both uncertainty from the trade war and from the slowing domestic economy.


Doubt builds

The temporary tax reduction for US car imports comes as China heads for its very first annual vehicle sales decline in 28 years amid the trade war and an economic slowdown that’s undermining consumption momentum.

Car sales in China have fallen for six straight months after decades of almost uninterrupted growth. While there were other factors, the tit-for-tat jabs between the world’s biggest economies have played a role. The move by China would reduce tariffs on cars made in the US to 15 per cent from the current 40 per cent, in line with what other countries pay.

Corn Imports
The corn imports are likely to start as early as January, following a revival of American soybean purchases, the people said. The government is also considering various options for how to handle the 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs on American corn that China adopted in July, the people said.

China’s decision on vehicles may provide a respite for American carmakers such as Tesla Inc. German carmakers such as BMW AG and Daimler AG would also benefit as they bring to China US-made cars.

BMW said on Saturday that it’s cutting recommended retail prices of its US-made vehicles in China to reflect the tariff reduction.

BMW and Daimler have been hardest hit by the additional levies, shipping large numbers of sport utility vehicles from plants in the US to China. Six of the top ten vehicles exported from the US to the world’s biggest car market are from the two German brands, according to forecaster LMC Automotive.

For BMW, the punitive levies caused a hit of 300 million euros ($339 million) to its bottom line during the second half of the year. The trade tensions were a key factor in both carmakers cutting profit forecasts for the year.

Shares of BMW and Daimler, which import thousands of SUVs into China from plants in the US, reversed earlier losses in Frankfurt on Friday tied to a weak European auto sales report. BMW closed 0.1 per cent higher, after falling as much as 2.4 per cent. Daimler’s decline narrowed to 0.4 per cent from as much as 2.8 per cent earlier.

Foreign carmakers have long pleaded for freer access to China’s auto market while its own manufacturers are trying to expand abroad. In April, China announced a timetable to permit foreign companies to own more than 50 per cent of local vehicle-making ventures.

Longer term, China has a lot to gain from free trade in autos as manufacturers such as Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd look to move overseas. The US currently charges a 27.5 percent tax on imported cars from China after adding a 25 per cent additional tariff during the trade row.