China’s Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced it would be temporarily adjusting import tariffs on 859 commodities – at rates lower than that of the most-favored-nation (MFN) tax rate – effective January 1, 2020.

This will be made in accordance with China’s free trade agreements with New Zealand, Peru, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Iceland, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, Georgia, Chile, and Pakistan as well as the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement.

However most of the goods on the list are food products, pharmaceuticals and raw materials for manufacturing high tech products.

China is looking to further diversify its export markets and reduced tariffs are one way to strengthen FTAs.  At the same time, reduced tariffs on imports help support China's domestic industries by lowering their cost of supplies.