China to adjust import tariff rates, items on certain goods for 2025

China will adjust the import tariff rates and items on certain goods starting from Jan. 1, 2025, in an effort to expand domestic demand and advance high-standard opening up, authorities announced Saturday.

Provisional import tariffs, lower than the most-favored-nation rates, will be applied to 935 commodities next year as part of the annual tariff adjustment plan. This plan "will help increase the imports of quality products," according to a statement from the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

In order to support the development of new quality productive forces led by sci-tech innovation, the import tariffs on cycloolefin polymers, ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers, and automatic transmissions for special-purpose vehicles such as fire trucks and repair vehicles will be reduced; In order to improve people's livelihood, the import tariffs on sodium zirconium cyclosilicate for medicine, viral vectors for CAR-T tumor therapy, and nickel-titanium alloy wires for surgical implants will be reduced; In order to promote green and low-carbon development, the import tariffs on ethane and some recycled copper and aluminum raw materials will be reduced.

In order to expand the global high-standard free trade zone network, China will implement agreed tariff rates on some imported goods originating from 34 countries or regions in 2025, under the guidance of 24 free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements.

The announcement said that to support the least developed countries, the 43 least-developed countries with diplomatic relations with China will benefit from zero tariffs on 100 percent of the items imported by China.

In 2025, China will also continue to implement preferential tariffs on some imported goods originating from Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar in accordance with the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement and the intergovernmental exchange of notes between China and relevant ASEAN member states.

"Actively building a global free trade zone network is a manifestation of our commitment as a major country to uphold the multilateral trade system and WTO rules. We will promote the world to further develop towards globalization and multilateralism to serve the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind," said Gao Lingyun, a research fellow with the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China to adjust import tariff rates, items on certain goods for 2025

China to adjust import tariff rates, items on certain goods for 2025

China to adjust import tariff rates, items on certain goods for 2025

China to adjust import tariff rates, items on certain goods for 2025

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it is pausing immigrant visa processing from 75 countries.

The measure will apply to "countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people," the department said on X.

The pause impacts countries including Somalia, Haiti, Iran and Eritrea, "whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival," said the State Department.

Earlier on Wednesday, the department announced in a memo that it would suspend visa processing for 75 countries, including Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Thailand and Yemen, according to a Fox News report.

The pause will begin Jan. 21 and will continue indefinitely until the department conducts a reassessment of visa processing, the report said. The move came after the White House announced on Tuesday that it is ending temporary protected status for Somali immigrants amid fraud allegations in Minnesota.

On Monday, the State Department announced on social media that it had revoked over 100,000 visas since U.S. President Donald Trump took office nearly a year ago.

In November 2025, Trump announced his intention to permanently suspend immigration from what he described as "Third World countries", following the death of a National Guard member after being shot near the White House by an Afghan national.

U.S. freezes immigrant visa processing from 75 countries