China halts American LNG imports amid escalating trade war
Beijing responds tit-for-tat in the spiralling trade war initiated by Donald Trump. In response to the excessive tariffs, 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 the "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 hiatus 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.
It's worth recalling that Beijing imposed a 15% tariff on American LNG deliveries on 10 February 2025, in retaliation for American tariffs. This demonstrates how China can turn the tables. At the beginning of the year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio contended that American liquefied gas (LNG) should be used as "leverage" in talks with China—the largest importer of this fuel in the world.
However, through a multi-directional 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 the 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.
As we wrote on money.pl, 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 liberalising extraction regulations and announcing investments in new terminals, intends to significantly increase gas exports.
To secure new contracts and bolster 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 allow time for negotiations in which gas contracts will be a crucial card.
The pressure to drastically increase LNG purchases from the USA is directed towards 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.
