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Law360 (March 13, 2020, 4:16 PM EDT) -- The Trump administration has peeled back tariffs of 7.5% and 25% on several pieces of Chinese medical equipment, including face masks, gloves and shoe coverings as the novel coronavirus spreads through the U.S.
Over the past week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has gradually been exempting various medical equipment items from the duties levied against China by President Donald Trump last year. The latest batch of exclusions came on Thursday, covering gloves, masks, stethoscope covers and blood pressure cuff sleeves.
Officially, the government is not cutting the tariffs as part of its COVID-19 response; they have been cut at the behest of U.S. importers who have said that the goods are not sufficiently available from domestic suppliers. The agency has been periodically slashing duties on various tranches of items over the past year.
USTR did not respond to a request for comment on the tariff exclusions Friday.
Trump began whacking China with tariffs in 2018 over Beijing's intellectual property regime and its forced technology transfer rules. Those duties were met with retaliatory tariffs from the Chinese on scores of goods, sparking an escalating trade battle that threatened to swallow up the entirety of U.S.-China trade.
But the two sides were able to make peace with a "phase one" trade deal that entered into force last month. The deal obligates China to make some purchases from U.S. providers and enact several policy reforms, but does leave the U.S. duties in place even as some of the tariff rates have been reduced.
The administration has been inundated with calls to relax its China tariffs across the board. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other influential business groups have called to soften the tariff blow as the spread of the coronavirus continues to squeeze the economy.
COVID-19 originated in China's Hubei province in late 2019, and has since spread to 117 countries and territories, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO has confirmed more than 125,000 cases in total, with 4,613 deaths.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,629 cases with 41 deaths. The outbreak has prompted the cancellation of sporting events, conferences and other large-scale public gatherings in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading.
--Editing by Adam LoBelia.
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