Latest news with #GeneralAdministrationOfCustoms
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Japan says China will resume Japanese seafood imports it halted over Fukushima water discharge
Visitors check seafood sold at the seafood market 'Lalamew' near the Onahama fish port in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, on Oct. 19, 2023 in Iwaki, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) TOKYO — China will resume Japanese seafood imports it banned in 2023 over worries about Japan's discharge slightly radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, a Japanese official said Friday. China said their talks this week made 'substantial progress' but did not confirm an agreement with Japan on the issue that has been a significant political and diplomatic point of tension. Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the agreement was reached after Japanese and Chinese officials met in Beijing and the imports will resume once paperwork is complete. 'Seafood is an important export item for Japan and a resumption of its export to China is a major milestone," Koizumi said. Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya also welcomed the move, saying, 'It will be a big first step that would help Japan and China to tackle a number of remaining issues between the two countries,' such as disputes over territory, trade and wartime history. But officials said China's ban on farm and fisheries products from 10 Japanese prefectures including Fukushima is still in place and that they will keep pushing toward their lifting. China's General Administration of Customs, in a statement issued Friday, said the two sides on Wednesday held 'a new round of technical exchanges on the safety issues of Japanese aquatic products ... and achieved substantial progress' but did not mention an agreement. How the disagreement over seafood imports began China blocked imports of Japanese seafood because it said the release of the treated and diluted but still slightly radioactive wastewater would endanger the fishing industry and coastal communities in eastern China. Japanese officials have said the wastewater will be safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligible. They say the wastewater must be released to make room for the nuclear plant's decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. Tokyo and Beijing since March held three rounds of talks on the issue before reaching the agreement on Wednesday on the 'technical requirements' necessary for Japanese seafood exports to China to restart, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It did not say how long it may take before the actual resumption. Mainland China used to be the biggest overseas market for Japanese seafood, accounting for more than one-fifth of its seafood exports, followed by Hong Kong. The ban became a major blow to the fisheries industry, though the impact on overall trade was limited because seafood exports are a fraction of Japan's total exports. Japan's government set up an emergency relief fund for Japanese exporters, especially scallop growers, and has sought alternative overseas markets. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, has said it would compensate Japanese business owners appropriately for damages from export bans. Why the wastewater is being treated and released into the sea The nuclear plant had meltdowns in three reactors after being heavily damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan. Water used to cool the reactor cores has been accumulating ever since, and officials say the massive stockpile is hampering the cleanup of the site. The wastewater was treated and heavily diluted with seawater to reduce the radioactivity as much as possible before Japan began releasing it into the sea in August 2023. Last September, then-Prime Minster Fumio Kishida said the two sides reached 'a certain level of mutual understanding' that China would start working toward easing the import ban and join the International Atomic Energy Agency's expanded monitoring of wastewater discharges. People inside and outside Japan protested the initial wastewater release. Japanese fishing groups said they feared it would further damage the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea also raised concerns. Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
China, Japan reach deal to restart seafood trade after Fukushima-linked suspension
TOKYO, May 30 — China has agreed on procedures to resume imports of Japanese seafood products, Japan's government said on Friday, marking a step towards ending a nearly two-year trade ban. Officials from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and China's Customs reached the agreement during a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday, the ministry said, adding that China-bound seafood exports were expected to resume after China completes 'necessary procedures'. China's General Administration of Customs said that the two countries made 'substantial progress' following another round of talks on the trade of Japanese aquatic products. The agreement comes as both governments work to ease tensions stemming from the 2023 release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It 'marks one important milestone', Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a regular press conference. 'We will continue calling for the resumption of Japan's exports of its beef to China and the lifting of import restrictions on agricultural and marine products from ten prefectures,' including Fukushima and Tokyo, Hayashi added. Those prefectures were not included in the agreement. Under the agreed measures, Japan will register fishery processing facilities with Chinese authorities, and exports will include inspection certificates confirming the absence of radioactive substances, the farm ministry said. The Nikkei newspaper, which reported the news earlier, said that China is expected to formally announce the resumption of seafood imports from Japanese prefectures outside the Fukushima region in the near future. China imposed the ban on Japanese seafood imports shortly after Tokyo began releasing the treated Fukushima wastewater, prompting a diplomatic and economic backlash. — Reuters
CBS News
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Chinese exports plunge as U.S. retailers cancel orders amid steep tariffs
Chinese exports to the U.S. plunged in April, as steep tariffs on China make it too costly for many U.S.-based retailers to import goods from the country. President Trump ratcheted up his trade war with Beijing in April, hiking tariffs on Chinese goods to up to 145%. China retaliated with 125% levies on Americans goods. As a result, shipments of goods from China to the U.S. in April dropped 21% compared with the same period one year earlier, data released Friday from China's General Administration of Customs shows. Chinese exports to Southeast Asian countries surged by the same amount, according to the April data, demonstrating how Mr. Trump's tariffs are already upending trade patterns. On Friday, Mr. Trump said in a post on his social media site Truth Social that the levies on China could come down to 80%. The lower rate "seems right," wrote the president, ahead of U.S.-China trade negotiations set to kick off this weekend in Switzerland. While lower than the 145% tariffs currently in place, 80% levies would still make importing goods from China prohibitively expensive for many U.S.-based businesses. Many consumers, meanwhile, are unlikely to afford price hikes from steep tariffs at a time when they are already squeezed financially. Upending trade patterns Some business owners say they are skipping orders they would normally have already placed with Chinese factories, as they wait and see where tariff rates on China and other countries settle. Mr. Trump in April announced a bevy of country-specific tariffs, which he later placed on hold — with the exception of those on China — for 90 days. A 10% tariff in place on all imports to the U.S. remains in effect. Businesses say the 10% baseline tax is a challenge, but far easier to absorb than duties over 100%. April's shakeup in the flow of goods around the world has pushed many retailers to rethink their supply chains, with some taking steps to reduce their reliance on China, amid the steep levies in place. Meanwhile, Chinese imports from the U.S. dropped more than 13% compared with April 2024. Beijing could bring down its 125% retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods, if trade negotiations between the two countries progress this weekend. UBS analysts expect U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to settle at around 34%, "as a more constructive tone and the start of high-level talks in Switzerland suggest both sides are open to deescalation and further negotiation," said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer of global equities at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a research note. Capital Economics' China economist Zichun Huang added that U.S. tariffs inflict minimal harm to China, as exports to other countries in Asia offset the decline in shipments to the U.S.
CNA
09-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
China sales to US slump even as exports beat forecasts amid trade war
BEIJING: China on Friday (May 9) said sales to the United States slumped last month while its total exports topped forecasts, as Beijing fought a gruelling trade war with its superpower rival. Trade between the world's two largest economies has nearly skidded to a halt since US President Donald Trump imposed various rounds of levies on China that began as retaliation for Beijing's alleged role in a devastating fentanyl crisis. Tariffs on many Chinese products now reach as high as 145 per cent - with cumulative duties on some goods soaring to a staggering 245 per cent. Beijing has responded with 125 per cent tariffs on imports of US goods, along with other measures targeting American firms. The Trump administration has since exempted items including smartphones and computers, imported largely from China, from the 145 per cent tariffs. Beijing has also created a list of US-made products that would be exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is quietly notifying companies about the policy, Reuters previously reported. Against that backdrop, analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected exports to rise just 2 per cent year-on-year last month. But they beat expectations, coming in at 8.1 per cent. However, exports to the US - one of China's top trading partners - fell 17.6 per cent month-on-month, data showed. Shipments to the US totalled US$33 billion last month, falling from US$40.1 billion in March, according to data published by China's General Administration of Customs. "The damage of the US tariffs has not shown up in the trade data in April," Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said in a note. "This may be partly due to transhipment through other countries, and partly because of trade contracts that were signed before the tariffs were announced," he added. "I expect trade data will weaken in the next few months gradually."
CNA
09-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
China's exports beat expectations in April, but shipments to the US fall 17.6% month-on-month amid trade war
BEIJING: China's exports rose faster than expected in April, while imports narrowed their declines, customs data showed on Friday (May 9), giving Beijing some relief ahead of ice-breaker tariff talks with the US this weekend. Outbound shipments from the world's second-largest economy rose 8.1 per cent year-on-year, beating the 1.9 per cent growth expected in a Reuters poll of economists but slowing from the 12.4 per cent jump in March, when exporters scrambled to get their shipments out before the 145 per cent US tariffs on Chinese goods took effect. However, official data showed China's exports to the US fell 17.6 per cent month-on-month in April. Shipments to the US totalled US$33 billion last month, falling from US$40.1 billion in March, according to data published by China's General Administration of Customs. Imports slowed a slide that began at the start of 2025, falling 0.2 per cent, from a 4.3 per cent year-on-year drop in March and below the 5.9 per cent drop expected by analysts. The new trade data comes with China and the United States locked in a heated trade war, which saw both sides ratchet up tariffs on each other's goods to over 100 per cent in early April. The Trump administration has since exempted items including smartphones and computers, imported largely from China, from the 145 per cent tariffs. Beijing has also created a list of US-made products that would be exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is quietly notifying companies about the policy, Reuters previously reported. Chinese and US officials will meet this weekend in Switzerland to start trade negotiations. But an immediate lowering of trade barriers seems a long shot, with Trump saying on Wednesday he was not willing to cut US tariffs to get Beijing to negotiate, and China's foreign ministry insisting that Washington should "stop threatening and pressuring" it. The US tariffs could deal a heavy blow to China's economy, which has relied on exports to drive growth as it struggles to recover from the pandemic shocks and a protracted property market slump. Domestic demand remains weak and investor confidence is fragile. Beijing has in the past few months reiterated its confidence that China could achieve the "around 5 per cent" growth target for the year, and rolled out measures to bolster consumption and support the country's exporters. A slew of monetary stimulus measures, including liquidity injections and cuts to policy rates, were announced on Wednesday in a bid to ease tariff hits on the economy. China's April surplus came in at US$96.18 billion, down from the US$102.64 billion the previous month.
