(Bloomberg) -- With President Donald Trump poised to hit China with tariffs on another $200 billion goods within days or even hours, China has announced measures to support some of the exporters targeted.
The Ministry of Finance said it will raise export rebate rates for 397 goods ranging from lubricants to children’s books, meaning that firms shipping these products abroad will pay less value-added tax. The new rates will be effective from Sept. 15, the ministry said in a statement on its website Friday.
About a sixth of those items were among the products already hit by the tariffs the U.S. recently imposed on $50 billion Chinese goods, such as pressure-reducing valves or lubricants. Bloomberg identified those by comparing the products on the VAT list to items on the lists of goods hit by higher tariffs. At least another 67 items getting a VAT rebate may been soon hit by the next round of U.S. tariffs.
There may be other products getting tax rebates which are a target for higher tariffs, but aren’t included in the above tally. For example, China said it will lift tax rebates for integrated circuits, and these have been hit by U.S. tariffs, but the item is not included in the above tally due to the differences between the Chinese and U.S. trade code lists.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Xiaoqing Pi in Beijing at xpi1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, Lianting Tu, James Mayger
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