President Xi Jinping announced the plan to reduce import tariffs for automobiles to a considerable extent at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 (hereafter referred to as the BFA Annual Conference 2018). This good news has attracted foreign automobile companies to actively apply to participate in the first China International Import Expo (hereafter referred to as the CIIE). So far, 23 foreign automobile companies have applied to attend this grand expo.

According to data offered by the invitations department of the CIIE, the 23 foreign automobile companies that have applied for attendance to the first CIIE are from the U.S., Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, South Korea, Sweden, Austria, Canada and others. These automobile brands include GM, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, Daimler (Benz), Hyundai Kia, Ford, Volvo, AVL List, BMW, Tesla and Acura, among others.

According to the data of the China Automobile Dealers Association, China imported 228,000 automobiles in 2006, which increased fourfold to 1,216,000 in 2017.

According to Hu Biliang, President of the Emerging Markets Institute, Beijing Normal University, in a China News Service (CNS) interview, the fall in tariffs is good news to consumers since it will make it easier for them to buy imported automobiles with original packaging at a lower price.

It is known that China has adjusted its automobile import tariffs 9 times since it consolidated tariffs and import regulation taxes in taxation and levied tariffs by automobile displacement in 1986. Currently, a 25% tariff is levied on imported automobiles. States and regions vary from each other by their development in terms of tariff rates. The tariff rate is high in developing states on the whole, at more than 30% in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, and even 60% in India.

As Qi Junyan, Deputy Dean of the School of Economics at the Tianjin University of Finance & Economics and Vice President of the Tianjin Academy of Free Trade Area put it in the interview, China has constantly released signals for the further opening and cut in import tariffs for automobiles since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Talking of the topic again fully manifests China's resolution in opening to the world.