On June 15th, the U.S. government issued a list of tariff-added commodities, which will impose a tariff of 25% on approximately US$50 billion of goods imported from China, of which approximately US$34 billion will be implemented since July 6, 2018. Levied a tariff measure and began to solicit public opinions on about 16 billion U.S. dollars in goods. The relevant person in charge of the Office of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China said on June 16 that the Chinese side decided to impose the same level of taxation on imports from the United States. To defend their legitimate rights and interests, the reporter scrutinized that a variety of energy and chemical products are on the list of both China and the United States.
List of U.S. parties:
Polymer materials taxation focus
On June 15th, the U.S. Trade Representative issued two lists of tariffs, including a list of approximately US$34 billion to be implemented on July 6, and an additional tariff request for approximately US$16 billion. List.
According to the U.S. Trade Representative's statement, the previous list contained a total of 818 items, all of which were from the tax declaration list of 1,333 items announced by the United States in April. Among them, only 2 of the original 50 chemical products were still Columns, respectively, aircraft tires and retreaded tires. The latter list contains a total of 284 commodities, this list contains more petrochemical commodities, including mineral products, chemical industry and related industries products and plastics and their products in three major categories A total of 155 commodities accounted for more than half of the total list of commodities. Among them, 147 items of plastics and their products are listed, including all general plastics, most engineering plastics, biomaterials and renewable materials. Plastic products are also almost all listed, and the area of polymer materials has become the focus of US taxation. The other eight commodities are lubricants and grease-related products. According to estimates by the American Chemical Council, the value of these 155 commodities is about 2.2 billion. Dollars.
China counters:
Energy and chemical goods are among them
In response to the US taxation initiative, the State Council's Customs Tariff Commission issued an announcement declaring that it imposes a tariff of 25% on 659 items of approximately US$50 billion imported from the United States, of which 545 items such as agricultural products, automobiles, and aquatic products will be approximately US$34 billion. The goods shall be imposed with tariffs from July 6, 2018, and the implementation time of the additional tariffs shall be announced separately.
In the Chinese countermeasures list, of the 545 taxable goods that will be implemented on July 6, there are no energy and chemical products, but of the 114 items that were announced separately at the implementation time of tariffs, energy and petrochemical products accounted for one of them. Of the 108 items, of which energy products, coal, crude oil, coke and other raw material commodities and gasoline, diesel and other refined oil products are listed, and liquefied propane, liquefied butane and liquefied olefins and other chemical raw materials are also among them. Chemical products, Acrylonitrile, 1,2-dichloroethane, lubricants and some of the pesticides listed, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate and polyamide and other resins are also among them.
US Chemical Industry:
Disappointed with US government policy
On June 15th, the American Chemical Council (ACC) issued a statement calling for relevant departments to take effective measures to protect the US chemical industry from trade friction.
The statement stated that the association expressed disappointment with the U.S. government’s policies. The ACC believes that the government has now placed U.S. chemical manufacturing directly at the frontline of this conflict with China, and has not listened to the industry’s demands. ACC calls for U.S. Trade Representative’s Office And other agencies can listen to the opinions and concerns of the chemical industry in the next few weeks to prevent further escalation of the situation.
The ACC emphasized that 96% of manufactured products in the United States involve chemicals and are the basis of the entire North American supply chain. Thanks to the low cost of raw materials and chemical production facilities, the chemical industry has become one of the largest export industries in the United States, accounting for total US exports. On the other hand, China is one of the most important trading partners of the US chemical industry. In 2017, China’s total imports accounted for 11% of all plastic resins in the United States, ie, US$3.2 billion.
The ACC warns that trade frictions will damage US production. Trade frictions will cause a drop in chemical demand. Up to 24,000 jobs in chemical and downstream industries in the United States will be lost. The US is investing up to $194 billion in chemical industry investment plans. Half of it may be postponed or abandoned, and it will also cause global market volatility.