China is moving to lower tariffs on cars, according to reports Tuesday, signaling progress on President Trump’s get-tough trade stance toward Beijing.
Mr. Trump also heralded progress in the trade talks.
“Very productive conversations going on with China! Watch for some important announcements!” he tweeted Monday.
Beijing was expected to soon cut tariffs on auto imports to 15 percent from 40 percent. Bloomberg News first reported it.
Mr. Trump said the concession on auto tariffs was on the way the day after his Dec. 1 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires, where the two leaders agreed to a trade war truce and renewed trade talks.
Mr. Trump agreed to delay a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods and Mr. Xi agreed to significant concessions to drop trade barriers and buy more American goods.
Higher U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods set for Jan. 1 were delayed until March to allow time for trade talks.
The Trump administration slapped a 10 percent tariff on the $200 billion of goods and was set to increase the duty to 25 percent. That followed earlier tariffs on about $50 billion of Chinese goods.
Mr. Trump also threatened tariffs on another $267 billion of Chinese goods, which would effectively tax all imports from China.
Earlier this year, Mr. Xi followed through on a promise to reduce auto tariffs, cutting them to 15 percent from 25 percent. But he then retaliated against Mr. Trump’s tariffs by raising them to 40 percent.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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