China importers seek to lift tariffs on US farm goods

SHANGHAI: Chinese importers are applying to their government to lift tariffs on some US agricultural imports, state media reported on Sunday, three weeks after the two sides reached a truce in their trade war.

The unnamed importers were talking to US suppliers about potential pricing and have applied to a Chinese government body with oversight of tariffs to lift the levies, the nearly identical reports in various media outlets said. The importers were acting "according to the needs of the domestic market," the reports said. No further details were given, such as which products might be affected.

The move may be a goodwill gesture after the United States earlier this month was reported to have removed 110 Chinese export items from its own tariffs list. The two economic giants have hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than $360 billion in two-way trade since US President Donald Trump launched a trade war last year, damaging manufacturers on both sides of the Pacific.

But Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a truce and to revive fractious trade negotiations when they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan on June 29.

The Chinese media outlets on Sunday did not cite a specific source for the reported request to lift the tariffs on US goods.

The reports come just a few days after Trump accused China of backsliding on promises to increase purchases of American farm exports. Following the Osaka summit, Trump announced that, in return for Washington´s pledge to suspend a planned tariff increase on $300 billion in Chinese imports, Beijing had offered to buy "a tremendous amount of food and agriculture product" from the United States.