The United States should immediately lift all tariffs on Chinese goods, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday, ahead of an announcement by the Biden administration on expected hikes in levies on Chinese-made items, including electric vehicles.

China pledged to buy more than US $ 200 billion worth of American goods in total. In return, the United States pledged not to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods but would not immediately abolish the already imposed tariffs.

While the US has imposed additional tariffs on Chinese imports in the course of the US-China trade war, beneath the headlines, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has put in place a tariff exclusion process to exempt certain Chinese imports from additional tariffs.

This article, originally published on August 31, 2018, will be updated as the US-China trade dispute develops.

The ‘phase one’ trade deal between the United States and China entered into force on 14 February 2020. As part of this agreement, China agreed to make structural reforms, open up its financial services and strengthen intellectual property. China also pledged to buy at least US$200 billion in additional US goods and services over 2020 and 2021.

The US-initiated trade war against China further failed in 2021, while economic ties between China and the US did not see any substantial progress over the past year, He Weiwen, a former senior trade official and an executive council member of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, said at the Global Times Annual Forum on Saturday.

China pulled back on its already halting progress toward meeting its U.S. trade deal targets, slowing purchases of all types of goods covered by the agreement.

As the two-year deadline for the phase-one trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is approaching, all eyes are on the next step.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met virtually on Saturday morning to discuss trade issues between the two countries.

China remained on course to be more than 30 per cent short of its 2021 commitments under the phase-one trade deal with the United States.