No winner in the trade war? Japan has built a huge trade circle outside China and the United States,

In 2018, China's tariff rate continued to decline, involving many areas related to people's livelihood. With the gradual emergence of tariff reduction dividends, consumer consumption escalation needs are constantly met.



Continuous tariff reductions have released positive signals for China to expand its imports, and the success of the first China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as “ Entry Expo ”) as the world's first national-level exhibition with the theme of “ Import & rdquo; has highlighted China's determination to continue to expand its imports.



Import tariffs of over 1000 tax items were lowered < br />.


On May 1, 2018, China adjusted the import tariffs of some drugs and abolished the import tariffs of 28 items of drugs, including general drugs, alkaloids with anticancer effects and Chinese patent medicines, which were actually imported.



Since July 1, tariffs on imports of automobile parts and components have been reduced. The rates of 135 tariff lines with 25% vehicle tax rate and 4 tariff lines with 20% vehicle tax rate have been reduced to 15%, and the rates of 79 tariff lines with 8%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% vehicle parts tax rates have been reduced to 6%.



Since July 1, the MFN tariff rate for some imported consumer goods has been lowered, covering 1449 items. Among them, the average tariff rate for clothing, shoes, hats, kitchens, sports and fitness products has been reduced from 15.9% to 7.1%; the average tariff rate for household appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators has been reduced from 20.5% to 8%; and the average tariff rate for processed food such as aquaculture, fishing aquatic products and mineral water has been reduced from 15.5%. 2% to 6.9%, and the average tariff rate of imports of detergents, cosmetics such as skin care, hairdressing and some medical and health products decreased from 8.4% to 2.9%.



Cao Lei, director of E-Commerce Research Center, said that by taking advantage of tariff reduction, import trade and cross-border e-commerce can better divide their labor, and online and offline can jointly expand the import commodity market & ldquo; cake & rdquo; and jointly meet consumers'consumption upgrading needs.



On November 1, 2018, China reduced import tariff rates on 1585 items of industrial goods and other commodities. This is another large-scale tax reduction by the State Council following the tax reduction of 1449 items on July 1. The import tariff rate of 1585 items will be lowered, and the total tariff level of our country will be reduced from 9.8% in 2017 to 7.5%.



Zhao Ping, Director of International Trade Research Department of China Institute for the Promotion of Trade, said that as a developing country, China's tariff level has been declining continuously since its entry into WTO. At the beginning of 2018, China's average tariff rate was 9.8%, which is more than 5% lower than that before China's entry into WTO. This decline is huge.



On January 4, the citizens of Qiji Import Goods Direct Store in Qingdao Bonded Port Area of Shandong Province were choosing and purchasing imported goods. Since January 1, after the implementation of the provisional tariff rate on imports of more than 700 commodities, the prices of some imported commodities have dropped significantly. The Direct stores of imported commodities have also adjusted the prices of some imported commodities from that day, and intensified the promotion efforts. The preferential range is about 10% - 20%.



Expo entry demonstrates the determination to expand imports < br />.


From November 5 to 10, 2018, with the theme of “ New Age, Sharing the Future ” the Expo was successfully held in Shanghai. 172 countries, regions and international organizations from five continents participated in the exhibition. There were 3617 enterprises participating in the exhibition. More than 800,000 people entered the museum to discuss purchasing and visiting experiences, with a turnover of 57.8 billion US dollars.



At the opening ceremony of the Expo, President Xi Jinping said, & ldquo; China will further reduce tariffs, improve the level of customs clearance and facilitation, reduce the institutional costs of import links, and accelerate the development of new business models such as cross-border e-commerce.



The Expo will undoubtedly release the signal of further expanding imports and reducing tariffs. Industry analysts believe that if the tariff reduction is to reduce imports & ldquo; hard cost & rdquo; the Shanghai Expo has set up a platform for exchange, reducing the institutional transaction costs of imports. Among them, the policy signals of expanding imports in China are very positive and clear.



Expanding imports can meet the needs of Chinese consumers for higher quality goods and services, thus driving the upgrading of domestic industries and the adjustment of economic structure. China is transforming from an export-oriented country to an import-export balanced country. The expansion of import scale can not only rebalance the economic and trade relations between China and the world, but also promote the growth and upgrading of China's economy.



Liu Yingkui, director of the International Investment Research Department of the China Association for the Promotion of Trade, said that trading is only the first step. On the basis of expanding imports, the Expo is also a big platform for global economic and trade cooperation. By holding the Expo, we can reduce the trade deficit of some countries with China, optimize our trade environment and further strengthen economic and trade cooperation with other countries in the world.



Cross-border e-commerce tax adjustment keeps pace with the times



With the increasing scale of cross-border e-commerce, the impact of cross-border e-commerce on the retail trade, customs supervision and tax administration of importing countries has been brought to varying degrees, which has also attracted the attention of governments around the world. Among them, taxation has become the “ sword of Damocles; and many western countries are considering taxing cross-border e-commerce.



In 2018, the scale of cross-border e-commerce transactions in China increased steadily, and various favorable policies continued to support. Trade compliance, regulatory compliance, market compliance and financial and taxation compliance issues of cross-border e-commerce gradually & ldquo; Sunshine & rdquo;. Fiscal and taxation compliance mainly includes financial standardization of cross-border e-commerce enterprises themselves and tax standardization of related countries. The standardization of cross-border e-commerce tax plays an important role in promoting the development of cross-border e-commerce industry.



In August 2018, the State Council approved the establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in 22 cities, including Beijing, and China (Hainan) free trade pilot zones. So far, the number of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in China will increase from 13 to 35, covering the main first-and second-tier cities. Cross-border e-commerce has begun to expand from the Pearl River Delta to the Yangtze River Delta, and even the central, western and Northern regions.



In September 2018, the Notice on Tax Policy of Retail Export Goods in the Comprehensive Test Zone of Cross-border Electronic Commerce was issued. For goods that have not obtained valid purchase certificates for export enterprises of electronic commerce in the Comprehensive Test Zone, while meeting relevant conditions, the VAT and consumption tax exemption policies shall be implemented on a trial basis.



In November 2018, the Notice on Import Tax Policy Improvement for Cross-border E-Commerce Retail was issued, adding 63 items of tax commodities demanded by the masses. The single transaction limit was raised from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, and the annual transaction limit was raised from 20,000 yuan per person to 2,000 yuan per year..6 ten thousand yuan.



Industry experts believe that under the influence of Sino-US trade frictions, national policies are frequently exerted, not only to improve the domestic cross-border e-commerce industry regulations, but also to strengthen the confidence of cross-border e-commerce sellers. With the standardization of the global cross-border e-commerce environment, the pace of keeping up with the times will not lag behind, favorable policies, and gradually improve the industry rules, so that domestic sellers have a relative sense of security in the environment.