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China’s threat of tariffs on US gas potentially bluster

China’s threat to impose tariffs on US gas is likely to be empty rhetoric, as Beijing is keenly aware that it needs American LNG to drive an energy shift away from coal China’s threat to impose tariffs on US gas is likely to be empty rhetoric, as Beijing is keenly aware that it needs American LNG to drive an energy shift away from coal.
By Colin Shek 18 June 2018 0 31349
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and his US counterpart Donald Trump Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and his US counterpart Donald Trump. (PA)

China’s surprise threat to impose extra taxes on imports of gas from the United States is likely to be bluster, as the language used in Beijing’s document explicitly omits LNG. Any move to target US LNG would also limit China’s options for meeting booming domestic gas demand as it shifts away from coal.

China said on Friday that it would impose additional 25% tariffs on 659 goods from the US worth $50 billion per year, in a tit-for-tat announcement that came less than...