While talk of tariffs continues to dominate China-US trade relations, some tariffs may be on their way down. Starting in November, the Chinese government plans to cut tariffs on a wide range of industrial products and raw materials. More than fifteen hundred products and materials like textiles, metals, iron and steel are on the tariff reduction list. The affected items account for about 19 percent of total taxed imports in China, with the duty rate dropping from 10.5 percent to 7.8 percent.

LIU ZHENJIANG, SECRETARY GENERALCHINA IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION "Some tax rate adjustments are set to cope with trade friction, and some are for our long-term development. It is good for us to reduce tariffs for what we need, and to solve the trade balance problem as well as to promote structural reform on the domestic supply-side."