China’s imports of major energy resources from the United States have dropped to nearly zero during President Trump’s second term, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported last Thursday. In July, China’s combined imports of crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal from the US totaled less than one ton, marking the lowest level since December 2019.
According to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics cited by research firm CEIC, China’s LNG imports from the US have been zero since March, while crude oil imports ceased in June and remained at zero in July. Coal imports, which previously reached approximately 1.35 million tons, plummeted to less than one ton after May.
This energy “de-Americanization” trend appears likely to persist long-term due to the current stalemate in US-China trade negotiations and China’s efforts to diversify energy import sources following the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. China has strengthened its energy security by expanding supplier diversity.
This isn’t China’s first halt on US energy imports. During Trump’s first term, amid intense US-China tensions in late 2019, imports of these three major energy categories also dropped to zero. However, they recovered quickly after the two countries signed the Phase One trade agreement the following year.
Meanwhile, China’s domestic natural gas production reached 21.6 billion cubic meters in July, up 7.6 percent year-on-year. Pipeline gas imports from Russia and Central Asia totaled 5.2 million tons, increasing 4.8 percent. Russian crude oil imports to China surged 16.8% during the same period.
Experts suggest that China’s access to low-cost Russian crude oil and pipeline natural gas has reduced its appetite for purchasing higher-priced resources like LNG, contributing to suppressed LNG price growth across Asia.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), August 28, 2025
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202508280059.aspx