Experts urge U.S. to remove import tariffs

The United States should roll back all the additional tariffs on Chinese imports as soon as possible. Such a rollback will benefit consumers and enterprises and safeguard global trade and industrial chains, Chinese officials and experts said on Thursday.

Commenting on media reports that the U.S. is weighing lifting levies on Chinese imports, Shu Jueting, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a news conference that several Chinese and U.S. think tanks and research institutes have estimated full rollback of the tariffs will have substantial effect on curbing runaway U.S. domestic inflation.

The earlier the U.S. removes the tariffs, the sooner consumers and enterprises will benefit, Shu said. "China always believes removing all the U.S. additional tariffs on Chinese imports will benefit the two countries and the (rest of the) world."

Most of the additional tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods are still in place.

Liu Ying, a researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, which is part of the Renmin University of China in Beijing, said as the global economic recovery is under severe pressure, the removal of U.S. additional tariffs on Chinese imports will reduce barriers restricting global trade growth and promote open, stable and efficient global industrial and supply chains, so that the world can better deal with the challenges it is facing now.

Although a full rollback will have stronger spillover effects and will help curb U.S. inflation and support world economic growth, Liu said she expects the U.S. to gradually remove additional tariffs on everyday products imported from China. But, it may still keep tariffs on products related to sectors like high-tech and steel to suppress China.

According to some U.S. media reports, the U.S. may announce soon a rollback of some tariffs on Chinese consumer goods as well as a new probe into industrial subsidies that could lead to more duties in strategic areas like technology.

Asked for comments on such reports, Shu said China always honors its accession commitments to the World Trade Organization, complies with the WTO agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures, and has already fully removed prohibited subsidies.

"China has always opposed trade protectionism practices such as the U.S. Section 301 investigation," Shu said.