U.S. excludes Chinese face masks, medical gear from tariffs as coronavirus spreads

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a face mask waits for the train as a MTA worker disinfects a subway station in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office in recent days granted exclusions from import tariffs for dozens of medical products imported from China, including face masks, hand sanitising wipes and examination gloves, filings with the agency showed on Friday.

Many of the exclusion requests for medical products appear to have been expedited amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, with approvals granted just over one month past a Jan. 31 application deadline.