China Halts ALL Oil Imports From US As Trade War Turns Nasty
Chinese refiners have avoided buying crude from the US.
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The United States second largest oil client, China, has put a stop to the import of Crude oil from America as the escalating trade war between the countries has seemingly turned nasty.
Despite the oil not being included in the list of bilateral tariffs, Chinese refiners have avoided buying crude from the US.
“We are one of the major carriers for crude oil from the US to China. Before [the trade war] we had a nice business, but now it’s totally stopped,” Xie Chunlin, the president of CMES, said on the sidelines of the Global Maritime Forum’s Annual Summit in Hong Kong, as quoted by Reuters.
“It’s unfortunately happened, the trade war between the US and China. Surely for the shipping business, it’s not good,” the CMES president said.
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According to RT: He added that the trade battle was also forcing China to expand its soybean supplies.
Beijing is now purchasing most of its soybeans from South America.
China’s crude oil imports from America struck an average of 334,880 barrels per day through August, making Beijing the second-largest buyer of US oil after Canada.
In fact, China may be the largest buyer of American crude since many of the oil imported by Canada is re-exports – Canadian crude that temporarily crosses into the US on pipelines before re-entering Canada.
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After ending a 40-year ban on oil exports in late 2015, the US has ramped up sales to two million barrels per day (bpd).
China buys most of its crude from Russia, with imports rising from 665,000 bpd in 2014 to 1.2 million bpd last year.
Beijing’s other major suppliers are Saudi Arabia and Iran.
President Donald Trump is to double down on his continuing trade war with China following a notable win in the country’s international trade battles.
Negotiators accepted late on Sept. 30 to sign a new trade accord, the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
