Xi Says China to Cut Import Taxes Further, Import $30 Trillion

(Bloomberg) -- China intends to cut import taxes further and spend more on goods from abroad, as part of its efforts to open its economy, President Xi Jinping said.

• Xi said China's goods imports will exceed $30 trillion over the next 15 years, while services imports will exceed $10 trillion
• Effects of policies to support the economy are showing, or will do so

Key Insights

• These statements are in line with China's previous pledges on opening its economy and fostering consumption. The pledge on goods imports is higher than a promise Xi previously made, to buy $24 trillion
• In themselves, these comments don't move the needle very far on trade policy - the government has already cut tariffs this year and said it would do so again
• And as we've pointed out here, the big-ticket import pledge is actually not that much more than China is doing already

• Xi didn't announce any new stimulus measures, despite signaling last week that further measures were oncoming as the economy slows

Market Reaction

• The yuan pared loss in onshore and offshore trading
• Companies based on Hainan jumped after Xi said that China will further develop the southern province as free trade port

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Miao Han in Beijing at mhan22@bloomberg.net;Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, James Mayger

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Editorial Board