China to give Zero Tariff on All
Imports from 43 LDCs, Bangladesh, Nepal and Included from 1 Dec, 33 in Africa
in List
With all
tariffs for ‘least developed countries’ scheduled to be removed, China is
positioning itself as a trade leader for the Global South
·
Products
that fall under tariff quotas, the commission said, only shipments within the quota
will be exempted from tariffs.
·
A quarter
of merchandise exports from least developed countries went to China in 2021, more
than any other country or bloc that year, according to the World Trade Organization.
·
Last
year’s exports from the 43 UN-listed countries to China topped US$60 billion, Chinese
customs data shows.
·
In 2022,
the commission erased tariffs on 98 per cent of taxable products from 16 least developed
countries.
·
President
Xi Jinping announced the zero-tariff scheme during a September 5 keynote at the
Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
·
China
the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step.
China will eliminate
tariffs for goods from countries classified as the world’s least developed starting
in December, a move expected to lower shipping costs from parts of Africa and Asia
and give Beijing more sway in global trade.
The zero-tariff
treatment for the group of mostly small, non-industrialised countries poses little
threat to China’s manufacturing-intensive economy, analysts said, and gives Beijing
an edge in emerging markets as the US and Europe attempt to stem the flow of Chinese
goods into their own backyards.
The scheme will
cover all countries the United Nations considers “least developed” that have diplomatic
ties to China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Customs Tariff
Commission of the State Council.
Of the 43 countries
that stand to benefit, 33 are in Africa. The others are Yemen in the Middle East,
Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific and Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal and East Timor – all on the Asian continent.
The tariff scheme,
set to take effect on December 1, will apply to every import category, the commission
said.
The removal of tariffs
means these countries would pay less to ship crops, fruits, seafood or commodities
to China – an enormous market – and exporters would in turn save on the transport
of household goods, smartphones and electric vehicles to countries that reciprocate.
“China’s decision
to extend zero tariffs is a welcome move at a time when protectionism is on the
rise,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in
Singapore.
Chinese officials
may hope heightened trade relations with poorer, less developed nations will have
ripple effects, said Liang Yan, a professor of economics at Willamette University
in the United States. Beijing may be angling to earn their support in international
bodies, she added, by pushing for open trade over protectionism.
“In the grand scheme
of things, China does want to have more solidarity with the Global South, and there’s
definitely this idea of power projection,” Liang said.
The Global South
is a broad categorisation of the world’s relatively undeveloped countries – many
of which were or are colonial subjects.
For products that
fall under tariff quotas, the commission said, only shipments within the quota will
be exempted from tariffs.
A quarter of merchandise
exports from least developed countries went to China in 2021, more than any other
country or bloc that year, according to the World Trade Organization.
Last year’s exports
from the 43 UN-listed countries to China topped US$60 billion, Chinese customs data
shows.
China has sought
to cement trade relations with the developing world for the past several years.
In 2022, for example, the commission erased tariffs on 98 per cent of taxable products
from 16 least developed countries.
President Xi Jinping
announced the zero-tariff scheme during a September 5 keynote at the Beijing Summit
of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
“This has made China
the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step,”
said foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Friday.