Trade wars: China slashes tariffs on 850 products – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as China gives the world economy a festive gift
- Introduction: Beijing cuts tariffs on hundreds of products
- Pork, avocado, and semiconductors all on list
- China wants to boost imports amid slowing economy
- Trump: We’ll sign trade deal very soon
9.50am GMT
Here’s Agathe Demarais, Global Forecasting Director at The Economist Intelligence Unit, on China’s tariff cuts:
9.41am GMT
A new sweeteners tax has dealt a bitter blow to Nichols, the maker of Vimto.
The Saudi Arabian and UAE tax authorities have recently implemented an excise tax of 50%, to be levied on the retail price of non-carbonated sweetened drinks.
This tax will be applied to all non-carbonated drinks containing either natural or artificial sweeteners, including sales of Vimto products. Therefore, unlike the UK soft drinks levy, product reformulation is not an option.
Vimto maker Nichols warns a 50% tax on soft drinks in the Gulf could clobber profits next year. The drink is highly popular during Ramadan… as Google search trends in Saudi reveal https://t.co/Kz8JeoZwzl pic.twitter.com/Ee8EBkCWIX
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