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Cnn
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China seems to have calmly retreats 125% reprisal prices on certain semiconductors manufactured in the United States, according to the details provided in CNN Friday by three import agencies in the South South Technology Center, while Beijing tries to soften an in progress trade war against its important technological industry.
The exemptions apply to integrated circuits, also called micropuces or semi-controller, depending on the agencies. They discovered the exemptions, which was not officially announced on Thursday.
On April 12, China increased its 125% reciprocal prices for all goods from the United States, in response to the decision of the American president Donald Trump to raise the samples on Chinese products to a 145% sky-high.
For months, Beijing has been planning an air of strength and confidence in its ability to resist a growing trade war with the United States. But these exemptions suggest that it must reduce certain samples from crucial elements that he cannot take at home or at the source elsewhere. Last year, China imported a value of $ 11.7 billion in the United States in semiconductors, according to customs data.
Semiconductors are an essential part of almost all electronic devices. They are difficult to do because of the high cost of development and the level of knowledge required, which means that a large part of the production is concentrated among a handful of suppliers.
Although China has made progress in the development of its own semiconductor industry, it still depends strongly on imports of chips and tamias manufacturing equipment in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Netherlands.
Duncan Clark, president of the BDA technological investment consulting company, said the exemptions suggest that China does not have “autonomy in fleas”.
“He has an ambition for that. But basically, it will take some time before it can be entirely autonomous,” he said.
Ray Wang, an analyst based in Washington focused on the American technological competition, said that exemptions benefited manufacturers of American fleas such as Intel, Texas Instruments and Global Foundries, who are affected by Chinese prices.
Chinese authorities have not confirmed the exemptions On semiconductors publicly. The general administration of customs and customs offices in Shenzhen and Zhongshan, two port cities in the province of Guangdong, said they were not aware of the exemptions.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that he did not know the situation, questioned on the exemptions at a regular press conference on Friday. CNN contacted the Chinese Ministry of Trade for Comments.
Chen Shaoling, director of the Zhengnenliang supply chain, an import agency, told CNN that she had discovered Thursday that prices on eight types of integrated circuits, covering most of the semiconductors, with the exception of memory chips, had been canceled at zero. The discovery was made during a personalized routine authorization for its customers, she added.
“We only discovered after having filed the declaration – without doing it, we would not have known it,” said Chen. “News are now spreading like forest fires.”
Caijing, a Chinese business magazine, reported on Friday exemptions, citing several technological companies that import semiconductors, including a Shanghai based. The report was deleted about three hours after its publication.
Exemptions have not been the first time that Beijing has come to the help of its technological sector, which is starting to enjoy a closer relationship with Officialdom after a regulatory repression of several years.
Earlier this month, China removed prices on fleas designed by American companies but made outside the country. For example, NVIDIa American flea giant products are widely manufactured in Taiwan by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
On April 11, China Semiconductor Industry Association supported by the State declared in an article on its official social media chain that the “declared country” should be the location of the factory where the product was manufactured.
This means that the semiconductors of American flea designers like Qualcomm and Nvidia, made outside the United States, would not be subject to the Chinese price of 125% on American products.
This week’s exemptions seem to apply only to logical fleas, which processes and control the data flow, an area dominated by the United States. Memory chips, which store and collect data, are not included in the exemptions. South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix are the leaders of this market.
The local customs authority of Shenzhen seems to have informed certain companies of the update.
“Fantastic news! We have received a new opinion from China Customs, declaring that eight pricing codes linked to semiconductors / integrated circuits are now exempt from additional prices on American imports,” wrote Shenzhen Hjet on Thursday.
“This means that imports from the United States under these codes will have their prices reduced to zero at the entrance to China,” added the position.
A member of the company’s staff who received a CNN call confirmed the new policy, saying that his business was informed by local customs on Thursday.
Taihang Semiconductor, a company also based in Shenzhen which imports fleas, told CNN that he had received a customs notice, although he refused to provide more details. “This is definitely a good thing,” said a staff member when contacted by CNN.
The two largest economies in the world are in the throat of the other in a bitter tariff struggle that has disrupted world markets, disturbed supply chains and recession fears.
On April 11, Trump exempted electronics imports such as smartphones and computers from his “reciprocal” prices. This exemption has had a major impact on technology giants like Apple, which make iPhones and other products in China.
In recent days, Trump has softened his tone, saying that astronomical prices on Chinese goods “descend considerably” and promised to be “very nice” to the negotiation table when he tries to bring the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to take the first step to initiate trade discussions.
But Beijing has rejected Trump’s apparent olive branch, demanding that the United States should remove all prices on China if he wants to speak. Chinese officials have also repeatedly refuted Trump’s claims that the two parties are in talks on trade.
“There has been no negotiations between China and the United States on the issue of prices. The United States should not mislead the public,” Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Friday.
The refutation came after Trump said Thursday that his administration had meetings with Chinese officials concerning trade earlier in the morning.
This story has been updated with additional information.
