President Trump on Tuesday announced that he will delay the 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods to December 15. The tariffs had previously been scheduled to go into effect on September 1.
The delay affects roughly half of the $300 billion target list of Chinese goods.
“We’re doing this for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs would have an impact on U.S. customers.” Trump told reporters in New Jersey. “Just in case they might have an impact on people, what we’ve done is we have delayed it so that they won’t be relevant to the Christmas shopping season.”
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office announced the decision on Tuesday just minutes after China’s Ministry of Commerce said Vice Premier Liu He conducted a phone call with U.S. trade officials.
Vice Premier Liu agreed with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to speak again by phone within the next two weeks, the ministry said. President Trump said the two sides may still meet in early September as scheduled.
The Federal Register notice can be found here.
