US exempts hundreds more Chinese goods from tariffs

The United States will exclude a long list of Chinese-made goods from the tariffs that President Donald Trump’s administration imposed as part of the trade war.

Dog leashes, pool vacuum cleaners, electric skateboards, Christmas lights and drinking straws are among the hundreds of goods that will no longer going to be hit with the tariffs, the Office of the United States Trade Representative announced Friday in three published lists.

The exemptions mark the latest detente in the trade war. Last week, China exempted certain American imports including shrimp, fish meal, and cancer drugs, followed a couple of days later by US soy beans and pork imports, from its own tariffs. The United States followed suit by delaying tariffs on certain Chinese goods from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15.

The exemptions and delays point to an improving relationship between the world’s two largest economies, after tensions escalated throughout the summer. Chinese officials are expected to return to the negotiating table in Washington in October.

But the trade war is far from over: Chinese delegations canceled a visit to US farm country in Montana at the last minute on Friday, according to a Reuters report.

Moments before, Trump said during a press conference that there was progress in trade talks but that the United States are looking for a “complete deal” with China, and not a partial one.

Together, this was taken as a negative sign by the stock market, which promptly reversed gains.

The exempted items came from different groups of tariffs that the Trump administration had placed on imported Chinese goods over the past year.