The Information Office of the State Council will f

Office of the State Council: China will further reduce import tariffs on consumer goods

Office of the State Council: China will further reduce import tariffs on consumer goods

June 4, 2018

[China paint information]

on June 1, the office of the State Council held a regular policy briefing of the State Council to introduce the relevant situation of China's further reduction of import tariffs on consumer goods. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that reducing import tariffs on consumer goods is conducive to further opening up, and it is a major measure and practical action for us to take the initiative to open up the market

in response to economic questions, the person in charge said that he hoped to enrich domestic consumption choices by reducing import tariffs and expanding the import of consumer goods, so that consumers could get more benefits

the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that at present, the average MFN import tariff rate of China's consumer goods is 14.5%, which is higher than China's total tariff level of 9.8%. In 2017, China's general trade imports of consumer goods amounted to US $65.7 billion

since 2015, in order to attract overseas consumption and meet the upgrading needs of residents' consumption, China has reduced import tariffs on consumer goods for daily use four times, mainly considering the high-quality products whose overseas consumption is relatively concentrated and which cannot be supplied at home at the moment, including wool clothing, some shoes and boots, sunglasses, thermos cups, diapers, some special foods and health care products

this tax reduction, in addition to the appropriate tax reduction again for some production liquidation deteriorated oil products that have been significantly reduced in the previous period, it is planned to greatly expand the scope and power of tax reduction for other consumer goods. 5. The fatigue experiment mechanism in different environments, including products with relatively small overseas consumption but foreign distinctive advantages, as well as products with relatively high import tax rates, involves 1449 tax items, which is 7 times the total number of the previous four tax reductions. The average tax rate decreased from 15.7% to 6.9%, with an average decrease of 55.9%

"At present, the world economic and political situation is complex, trade protectionism in some countries is on the rise, and global economic development is facing new challenges. Adhering to multilateralism and opening to the outside world is our important purpose. This time, the Chinese government announced to reduce import tariffs on some consumer goods, which is an initiative tax reduction measure we have taken, and one of the important measures China has taken to expand its opening-up, showing China's close integration with the world economy. I We firmly support the firm belief of the global multilateral trading system with the WTO as the core. " The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance stressed

involving more than 70% of the tax items of consumer goods for daily use

"this tax reduction covers all kinds of consumer goods directly needed by people in their daily lives, benefiting all aspects." Fengjinping, director of the Customs Department of the Ministry of finance, said

the tax reduction involves a total of 1449 tax items, and the average tax rate is reduced from 15.7% to 6.9%, involving more than 70% of the tax purposes of daily consumer goods, mainly including:

first, clothing, shoes and hats, household general merchandise, sporting goods, reduce the import tariffs of overcoats, jackets and other kinds of clothing, sports shoes and boots, hats, bags, home textiles, kitchen supplies, clocks and watches, sports and fitness supplies, involving 894 tax items, The average tax rate decreased from 15.9% to 7.1%

the second is household appliances, reducing import tariffs on washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, televisions, etc., involving 98 tax items, with the average tax rate reduced from 20.5% to 8%

the third is food and beverage, which reduces the import tariffs on aquatic products such as fish and shrimp cultivated and caught, and processed foods such as sausage, biscuits and cakes, involving different experiments and 387 tax items, with the average tax rate reduced from 15.2% to 6.9%

fourth, for daily chemical products and medical and health products, the import tariffs on washing products, oral cleaning products and some medical and health products were reduced, involving 70 tax items, and the average tax rate was reduced from 8.4% to 2.9%

in order to give full play to the macro-control role of tariffs and realize dynamic adjustment, the tariff rate of consumer goods was adjusted in the past in the form of provisional tax rate. In this adjustment, in order to stabilize policy expectations and actively expand opening-up, the MFN tax rate of relevant commodities will be directly adjusted

overall help to reduce market prices

after the reduction of import tariffs, can the prices of daily consumer goods with concentrated people's demand decline? In response to economic questions, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that the reduction of tariffs has indeed reduced the import cost to a certain extent, which is generally conducive to reducing the price in the domestic market

"however, we should also objectively see that tariffs are levied based on the import price of goods rather than the domestic market price. For mass consumer goods priced on the basis of cost, reducing taxes can promote market price reduction." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that for medium and high-end consumer goods, the market sales price is usually several times higher than the import price. The impact of tariffs on the market retail price is certain, but the impact is limited. In addition to tariffs, factors affecting the market price of consumer goods include circulation costs, brand pricing and marketing strategies

"after the tariff reduction, whether the price of consumer goods will be reduced, and how much it will be reduced, is indeed a market behavior. We hope that by reducing import tariffs and expanding the import of consumer goods, we can enrich domestic consumption options, promote the price decline of consumer goods, so that policy dividends can be truly transmitted to consumers, so that consumers can get more benefits." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said

to achieve the upgrading of consumer demand, we need to take multiple measures and implement comprehensive policies. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said, "brand building is a very important aspect. To create more high-end and high-quality domestic consumer goods and compete with world-famous brands, we also need to regulate the market order and crack down on fake and shoddy goods, so that consumers can buy goods nearby with more confidence."

"made in China needs to be further improved. Chinese design and Chinese brands really have a long way to go. This is also a backward mechanism to encourage entrepreneurs and enterprises to have greater impetus to innovate and reform, improve the competitiveness of enterprises' products, serve Chinese consumers, and contribute to the world." The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said