Chilling trade war: China halts U.S. LNG imports in tit‑for-tat
Beijing responds blow for blow in the spiral of Donald Trump's trade war. In response to the exorbitant tariffs and numerous restrictions and additional fees, China has halted imports of LNG from the USA.
Import of American liquefied natural gas to China has been completely halted for over 10 weeks, according to shipping data presented on Friday by "Financial Times."
According to the analytics firm Kpler, which tracks shipping data, no cargoes from the USA are currently being received in China. As "Bloomberg" assessed, this is the longest break in five years.
"Zero LNG trade between China and the US is likely to continue for the rest of 2025, with a further increase in China’s tariff on US LNG from the previous 15% to 49%, as a counterstrike against Trump’s steepest tariffs," said Wei Xiong speaking to Bloomberg.
Let's recall that Beijing imposed a 15% tariff on American LNG deliveries on February 10, 2025, in retaliation for American tariffs. This shows how China can turn the tables. At the beginning of the year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that American liquefied gas (LNG) should be used as a "leverage" in talks with China — the largest importer of this fuel in the world.
However, through a multi-vector policy, Beijing has diversified its sources of natural gas supply. In 2024, China imported about 85 million tonnes of LNG. Australia remains the largest LNG supplier to China. Due to long-term contracts (including an agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to supply 4 million tonnes of LNG annually over 27 years), Qatar occupies second place. Russia also exported 9.1 million tonnes of LNG to China in 2024, along with Malaysia. The USA ranked only fifth in 2024, sending 4.6 million tonnes of LNG to China.
Trump seeks new clients
After the shale revolution, the USA has become a major player in the LNG market. It has significantly expanded its infrastructure and capabilities to export gas to foreign markets. The main liquefied gas export terminals today are Sabine Pass in Louisiana, Cove Point in Maryland, Cameron in Louisiana, as well as Corpus Christi and Freeport in Texas.
America continues to maintain its status as the world's largest LNG exporter. In 2024, exports of this resource from the USA reached 97.2 million tonnes. Donald Trump, by liberalizing extraction regulations and announcing investments in new terminals, intends to significantly increase gas exports.
To secure new contracts and strengthen its position in the market, he used tariff threats by imposing them on almost all countries worldwide and then suspended them for 90 days (excluding China). Americans do not hide that the suspension of tariffs is meant to give time for negotiations in which gas contracts will be an important card.
The pressure to drastically increase LNG purchases in the USA is directed at both Europe and several Asian countries. Trump is said to have already spoken with South Korea's interim leader Han Duck-soo.
In line for American energy are reportedly Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan as well.
