Beijing's list leans on American farm goods, excluding soybeans. Washington's leans on toys, appliances and holiday decorations. Chips, electric vehicles and batteries were left out entirely.
The trade deal from last week's summit between Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping now has product lists attached. Chinese investors were not impressed.
Each country has recommended about $30 billion of the other's goods for lower tariffs, $60 billion in all, under a new U.S.-China Board of Trade. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. side would improve market access for about 30% of American exports to China. For more than 90% of the covered products, tariffs move toward most-favored-nation levels, the standard rates each country charges its normal trading partners.
China's commerce ministry said the two sides had extended their trade truce by two months, to Jan. 10.
Two different lists
The lists are equal in dollars and very different in content. China's covers 1,619 tariff lines of U.S. goods, dominated by agriculture: grains such as corn, wheat and sorghum, plus meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and meals, with seafood, timber, cosmetics and medical devices also included. The U.S. list covers 77 categories of Chinese goods, heavy on household and seasonal items: small kitchen appliances like toasters and coffee makers, dishes, bedding, toys, children's car seats, fireworks and holiday goods from artificial flowers to Christmas tree lights.
The two counts use different units, tariff lines on one side and product categories on the other, so they are not directly comparable. The composition is the more telling difference. China's picks line up with what the White House describes as a $17 billion commitment to buy American farm goods. Soybeans are absent, because China is already buying them under last year's deal for 25 million metric tons a year. The U.S. picks target goods that American shoppers buy heading into the holiday season.
Chips, electric vehicles and batteries were not covered. Neither were liquefied natural gas and oil. China did agree to import 10 million metric tons of U.S. coal a year in 2027 and 2028, roughly 2% of its annual coal imports.
The market's verdict
China's CSI 300 index of large mainland stocks fell 2.2% on Monday to 4,340.76, a one-year low. Technology shares led the decline, pressured by a bipartisan push in Washington to ban Chinese components from U.S. data centers.
The gap between the deal and the reaction reflects what the lists leave out. The goods on them are the ones both sides describe as non-sensitive. The areas where tensions are sharpest, advanced technology and the supply chains around it, are untouched, and investors in Chinese technology shares were reacting to a new threat in exactly that area.
The agreement also sets up an agriculture working group, due to meet before year-end, a channel for reporting AI incidents with a follow-up dialogue by the end of November, and a pledge by China to review and approve applications from foreign financial firms, including U.S.-backed ones, to operate and open branches.
The Jan. 10 truce deadline is now the date that matters. Chinese purchase data for corn, wheat and sorghum in the coming months will show whether the farm commitment is on track, and any movement on data center component restrictions will show whether the technology rift is widening in the meantime.