China will lower import tariffs on consumer goods beginning in July, state news agency Xinhua reported Thursday. In many product categories, tariffs will be reduced by more than half.

The State Council — China’s cabinet — said at a conference on Wednesday that the move aims to open the country’s markets wider, meet public demand, and stimulate industry improvements. The announcement follows last week’s pledge to cut tariffs on foreign cars and auto parts.

Lower import tariffs are an outcome of increasing pressure from the U.S., Xin Hua, director of research at the Shanghai Institute for European Studies, told Sixth Tone.

On May 19, China and the U.S. issued a joint statement, vowing to “resolve their economic and trade concerns in a proactive manner.” China promised to significantly increase its purchases of American goods and services to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. But on Tuesday, the White House announced that it would impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of imported goods from China, with a final list of what imports will be covered to be published next month.

The briefing particularly pointed out imbalances in auto trade, arguing that the U.S. charged a 2.5 percent tariff on Chinese cars while China’s tariff on U.S. cars was 25 percent.

From July, the average tariff rate on imported commodities such as apparel, kitchen supplies, and sporting goods will be cut from 15.9 percent to 7.1 percent. For household appliances, it will fall from 20.5 percent to 8 percent. Processed food tariffs will decrease from 15.2 percent to 6.9 percent, while tariffs on cosmetics and cleaning products will drop from 8.4 percent to 2.9 percent.

Xin anticipates that over the next couple of years, China will likely continue to reduce tariffs to calm Sino-U.S. tensions.

Feng Chucheng, an analyst at policy risk consultancy GRisk, told Sixth Tone that Chinese retailers will feel the impact as cheap domestic goods fall out of favor. He added that the measures echo President Xi Jinping’s speech at the annual Bo’ao Forum for Asia in April, where he suggested lowering tariffs on imported goods and promoting the country’s open markets.

“[Some parts of] China’s market were not open enough,” Feng conceded. “But now we’ve taken the initiative to lower import tariffs in areas like cars and consumer goods, while the U.S. maintains an insecure attitude, [introducing] new tariffs and more screening for overseas students, and going back on its word, which will severely affect its international reputation.”

On May 30, the U.S. State Department said that from June 11, it will shorten the validity length for some visas issued to Chinese students — a move that sparked widespread indignation on Chinese social media.

Editor: Qian Jinghua.

(Header image: A woman shops at an imported commodity trade center in Tianjin, Oct. 31, 2016. Li Shengli/VCG)