Hundreds of Chinese products, such as plastic drinking straws, will be exempted from a 25 percent tariff. | Kevin Frayer/Getty Images trade Hundreds of Chinese goods exempted from Trump's tariffs

The Trump administration has excluded Christmas tree lights, a series of pet supplies, plastic drinking straws and hundreds of other products from a 25 percent duty President Donald Trump imposed on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, according to three notices set to be published in the Federal Register on Friday.

The move comes as the United States and China are preparing for another round of high-level trade talks in early October. But the exclusions are less about placating Beijing than they are an effort to provide relief to some U.S. companies who say they have been harmed by Trump's tariffs and can't find an alternative source of supply.


The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to a request for an estimate of the value of trade represented by the exclusions.

Other products on the three lists of tariff exclusions include certain single-speed bikes, water drinking fountains for pets, various types of pumps, heat exchangers, compressors, chest-type coolers, upright freezers, household water filter cartridges, anesthesia masks, electric-powered skateboards, three-wheeled carriages used by people with disabilities, chain-link fence panels, tractor-trailer skirts, x-ray tables, wick-burning torches for outdoor use, and dog harnesses and dog leashes.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in partnership with RSM US LLP, an audit and tax consulting firm, released a quarterly survey report on Thursday showing that 40 percent of midsize company leaders say Trump's tariffs on imported goods are posing challenges for their business. Twenty-six percent also reported being hurt by retaliatory tariffs that China and other countries have imposed in response to Trump's duties over the last two years.

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“Rising tariffs and policy uncertainty are preventing midsize businesses — who employ millions of Americans — from investing and growing,” Neil Bradley, U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive vice president and chief policy officer, said in a statement.

"To guard against a possible recession, policymakers need to restore economic certainty, and that means deescalating trade tensions with China, passing [the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement] and investing in the future through an infrastructure package," Bradley added.

USTR said it considered a number of factors in determining whether to grant an exclusion request to U.S importers facing additional costs as a result of Trump's trade actions.

Those include whether the particular product, or a comparable one, is available only from China, whether the imposition of additional duties on the product would cause severe economic harm to the applicant or to other U.S. interests and whether the particular product is strategically important or related to China's “Made in China 2025” industrial program or to other Chinese industrial programs.

Trump initially imposed duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods that he said benefited from Chinese government support under the "Made in China 2025" initiative. But when Beijing retaliated, Trump expanded his action to include products outside his original target zone.

By the end of the year, Trump will have imposed either a 30 percent or a 15 percent duty on as much as $550 billion worth of Chinese goods as a result of tariff hikes set to take effect in October and December.

The pending tariff exclusions USTR will publish on Friday fall into three batches, based on when duties first went into effect in 2018. Exclusions from a total product list of $34 billion will apply retroactively from July 6, 2018; exclusions from a $16 billion list will apply retroactively from Aug. 23, 2018; and exclusions from a $200 billion list will apply retroactively from Sept. 24, 2018.

The exclusions will last for a year for products from the $34 billion and $16 billion product lists, but only until Aug. 7, 2020 for products from the $200 billion product list, USTR said.