On March 6, the U.S. government announced the exemption of tariffs on Chinese medical masks and other medical supplies. The updated file of the Office of the United States Trade Representative showed that a total of more than 100 medical-related products imported from China to 27 US companies were exempted from customs duties.

Most of these companies are related to medical supplies, and applications were submitted as early as January 31, but were not approved by the US government until March 5. Exemption applications for some companies are currently under review.

Medline Industries, the largest private medical supplies company in the United States, has applied for tariff exemptions for 103 items imported from China, of which 30 items have been approved, such as masks, gloves, sanitary wipes, and sample collection utensils.

Because the new crown pneumonia epidemic has begun to spread in the United States and there are signs of an outbreak, masks in the United States have already been sold out, and the current mask inventory in the United States can only meet 1% of medical professionals' needs, which is seriously scarce.

In response to this situation, many sellers believe: "This is a complete last resort."

In addition, South Korea also recently issued regulations on masks. As long as it is for non-profit purposes such as corporate use, ambulance use, donation, etc., mask import conditions can be waived from the recommendation process.