Headlines over the weekend said the United States and China agreed to cut tariffs on $60 billion worth of goods. The U.S. documents released Sunday set no new rate and no date. China’s Commerce Ministry, in a statement released Monday in Beijing, said more than 90% of the products will be exempted from all of the additional tariffs the two countries imposed on each other and will get most-favored-nation treatment — the standard tariff a country charges most of its trading partners. Neither side gave a date; the ministry says both sides will cut tariffs at the same time, once each has completed its own domestic legal procedures.
The U.S.-China Board of Trade published a U.S. import list, a China import list, working procedures and a terms-of-reference document on Sept. 27. The White House frames the lists as products the two sides “will consider … with a view toward providing reduced tariff treatment … in a reciprocal manner.” The terms of reference leave the cuts to each country’s own legal processes.
What is on the U.S. list
The U.S. Import List — Chinese goods eligible for consideration — runs 77 tariff lines, by Plainly Now’s count. The largest group, 25 lines, covers toys, games, sports equipment and Christmas articles. Home textiles such as blankets, bed, table and kitchen linen and curtains account for 17 lines; electrical goods, 14; children’s seats, play yards, sleeping bags and pillows, 9.
The list’s own wording names specific items: “Microwave ovens of a kind used for domestic purposes,” “Electric blankets,” “Playing cards” and “Arts. for Christmas festivities, ornaments of glass.” Several lines cover child safety seats and highchairs or booster seats, some marked “Ex-Out,” meaning only part of that tariff line is included.
What is on China’s list
China’s Import List — U.S. goods eligible for consideration — runs to 1,619 tariff lines, about 21 times as many as the U.S. list, mostly in farm, food and wood products. Wood accounts for 146 lines; oilseeds and seeds, 125; vegetables, 124; fish and seafood, 106; fruit and nuts, 93; meat, 79. Medical and optical instruments add 43 lines.
China’s Commerce Ministry summarized both sides of the deal in plainer terms: the United States will reduce tariffs on about $30 billion of imports from China such as toys, home appliances, baby products, kitchen and bathroom products and holiday gifts, while China will reduce tariffs on about $30 billion of imports from the United States such as agricultural products, personal care products, medical devices and coal — the ministry’s own summary, translated here. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said President Trump is “unlocking improved market access for about 30 percent of U.S. exports to China” — his figure; the published lists do not state it.
The two lists are valued at roughly $30 billion each way, based on 2024 bilateral trade — the source of the “$60 billion” figure in headlines.
What has not happened yet
No tariff has changed yet. The U.S. documents recommend products that could become eligible for lower tariffs — they name no effective date. The terms of reference put the decision elsewhere: “Future tariff reductions involving the products on the two approved lists will be determined and implemented in accordance with each side’s domestic legal processes.”
How the Board of Trade got here
President Trump and President Xi Jinping created the U.S.-China Board of Trade during Trump’s May visit to Beijing to manage trade in non-sensitive products between the two countries, according to USTR. China’s ministry dates the agreement to an eighth round of trade talks held Sept. 20-23 in New York and Washington, where the two sides reached consensus on the board’s procedures, the “30 for 30” framework and the product lists.
A White House fact sheet issued Sept. 25, during Xi’s state visit, said the two sides reached consensus on recommendations for more favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction. The fact sheet also cited a Chinese commitment to import at least 10 million metric tons of U.S. coal in 2027 and again in 2028. China’s ministry says the two sides also agreed to set up an agriculture working group under the Board of Trade, with a first meeting due before the end of 2026.
Under the board’s working procedures, U.S. principals are Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Greer; Vice Premier He Lifeng represents China. Deputies meet “no less than quarterly,” and list adjustments are expected no more than once a year. The start date, and the legal steps each country will take, have not been announced.
Sources and further reading
- Ambassador Greer Issues a Statement on Announcement of Recommendations from the U.S.-China Board of Trade
- U.S.-China Board of Trade
- U.S. Import List (30-for-30)
- MOFCOM releases information on the China-U.S. Board of Trade and the ’30 for 30′ reciprocal tariff-reduction framework
- Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Advances a Fair and Reciprocal Relationship with China While Hosting Historic State Visit