China and US plan to have trade negotiations in January

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council decided to suspend the additional tariff on US-made automobiles and auto parts for three months from Jan 1^st to March 31^th. A total of 211 tax items are involved. The Office of the United States Trade Representative also announced postponing the starting time of additional tariffs on 200-billion-dollars of Chinese commodities to March 3^rd.

The plan and content of Sino-US trade negotiations recently released by the United States were also confirmed by China's Ministry of Commerce. Some reporters asked at a regular news conference of the Ministry of Commerce on Dec 20^th whether the news from the United States that China and the US will have a meeting in January to negotiate for a truce in the trade war in a wider range of fields is true or not. Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng answered that there is indeed such a plan.

Gao said that work teams of the two countries have kept in close touch with each other and discussed in detail the topics and arrangements of the negotiations since the meeting of the two countries' leaders. The two sides will flexibly arrange negotiation activities including meetings and phone calls based on actual progress to promote the implementation of the leaders’ consensus.

Chinese and American vice-ministerial level officials discussed economic and trade issues such as the trade balance and intellectual property protection that meets the interests and needs of both sides on Dec 19^th via telephone, and also exchanged ideas about the arrangement of the soon-to-be-held trade negotiations.

Source: Official website of Ministry of Commerce

Finance Minister of Malaysia is optimistic about the prospects of Sino-Malaysian economic and trade cooperation

Lim Guan Eng, Finance Minister of Malaysia, said on Dec 19^th that the bilateral trade volume between Malaysia and China and Chinese enterprises' investments in Malaysia have kept increasing this year, and Malaysia is optimistic about the prospects for Sino-Malaysian economic and trade cooperation.

Lim said at an annual meeting of the Chinese Enterprises Association in Malaysia that evening that the foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia increased sharply in the first nine months of 2018, with China being the major source of foreign investment. Moreover, Malaysian statistics show that Malaysia’s imports from China and exports to China have both increased.

Shi Ziming, commercial counselor of the Embassy of China in Malaysia, said that more and more Chinese enterprises choose Malaysia as the destination for investment and overseas expansion, and fruitful results from mutually-beneficial cooperation have been achieved. Bilateral trade volume between China and Malaysia reached 99.7 billion dollars in the first 11 months of 2018, up by 15 percent year on year. The trade volume for all of 2018 is expected to exceed 100 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhuanet

Ningbo holds import and export license business training meeting

The Ningbo Municipal Commission of Commerce held an import and export license business training meeting on Dec 17^th, attended by more than 320 people from 290 enterprises from the city's 15 counties, county-level cities and districts. During the meeting, the License Affairs Administration introduced the measures the Ministry of Commerce has taken to promote a paper-free process for license applications to participating enterprises, with the theme of optimizing the business environment and facilitating trade. The administration also gave a detailed description of how enterprises can use the unified platform for license applications. The Ningbo Municipal Commission of Commerce elaborated on matters that need attention when dealing with licensing, and also invited officials from the Zhejiang representative office of the e-commerce center of the Ministry of Commerce to answer companies’ questions.

Source: Ningbo Municipal Commission of Commerce

32 Ningbo enterprises rank among China top 500 private foreign trade enterprises

The Statistical Society for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade of China recently released the 2017 ranking of China's top 500 foreign trade enterprises and the 2017 ranking of China top 500 private foreign trade enterprises. There are 33 and 96 Zhejiang enterprises respectively included in the two rankings. Eleven companies in the former ranking and 32 in the latter are from Ningbo.

Source: Ningbo Daily

Zhejiang Export Commodity Fair (Malaysia) opens

The sixth Zhejiang Export Commodity Fair (Malaysia) opened at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Malaysia on Dec 13^th. Sponsored by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and organized by the Zhejiang Broad International Convention & Exhibition Co, the fair has been held for several consecutive years. The four-day event had 150 exhibition booths and covered an area of 4,000 square meters. Its exhibits included mechanic-electronic products, home appliances and household items, and consumer goods and accessories. The fair brought together nearly 100 quality manufacturing enterprises in Zhejiang.

Source: Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce

Former Deputy Minister of Industry of Thailand visits Anhui province

Yang Benqing, deputy head of the Anhui Provincial Department of Commerce, met a delegation led by the Former Deputy Minister of Industry of Thailand and counselor of the Asian International Trade Investment Association (AITIA) on Dec 17^th. The Thai delegation aimed to promote the 9^th ASEAN (Bangkok) China Import & Export Commodities Fair to be held in Bangkok in November 2019 by AITIA, introduce the schedule of the China Tour of Thai Brands (Anhui) activity, and exchange ideas about Thailand-Anhui e-commerce platform cooperation with the provincial department of commerce.

Source: Anhui Provincial Department of Commerce

The gross value of imports and exports of Shandong has reached 1.7 trillion yuan ($246.4 billion) in the first 11 months of 2018

According to statistics provided by Jinan and Qingdao Customs, the gross value of imports and exports of Shandong reached 1.7 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of 2018, up by 7.4 percent year on year. The export value amounted to 959.4 billion yuan, up by 6.6 percent, and the import value amounted to 789 billion yuan, up by 8.4 percent.

Statistics showed that private enterprises in Shandong were the main force of the imports and exports in the first 11 months, with import and export values totaling 1.1 trillion yuan, up by 12.2 percent and 2.6 percentage points higher than those of the same period last year. Latin America is the largest import and export market of Shandong province, with its import and export value rising 26.7 percent to 227.3 billion yuan in the first 11 months. The commodities involve crude oil, mechanical and electrical products, traditional labor-intensive products, steel, and agricultural products.

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