China has unilaterally announced a 50 percent reduction in punitive tariffs on U.S. imports announced in September and December 2019, covering products valued at $75 billion. 

For poultry products, duty will be reduced from 35 percent to 30 percent and retaliatory tariffs imposed in September will be halved to 5 percent effective February 14th 2020. The 25 percent tariff imposed in July 2018 will remain.

The U.S. will lower tariffs on approximately $120 billion of imports from China from reduced from 15 percent to 7.5 percent in terms of the Phase-One Agreement.

The immediate question will be whether China will fulfill its obligation to increase imports of agricultural commodities over and above 2017 levels. Messages from Beijing and Washington suggest that the coronavirus outbreak and consequential disruption will delay implementation of the import program agreed to.