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China ties LNG imports from the US to lifting a 15% tariff
The tariff has left US LNG shipments to China at zero in 2025, after a 2024 pattern of 64 vessels, despite trade contracts remaining in place.
OilPrice reports that Xi Jinping’s trip to Washington on September 24 is expected to include talks aimed at reviving a US liquefied natural gas trade worth about $6 billion a year. The outlet says the key condition for progress is lifting a 15% Chinese tariff that has blocked American gas deliveries to China since Q1 2025.
According to OilPrice, Beijing’s tariff, imposed in February 2025, cut recorded US LNG shipments to China from 64 vessels in 2024 to zero in 2025. The outlet adds that while the underlying contracts were not canceled, Chinese buyers continued to honor them and then resold the cargoes into Europe and Asia instead of delivering them domestically.
OilPrice also links the timing to disruptions elsewhere in LNG supply. The outlet says Iranian missiles destroyed about 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity in March, and China absorbed the resulting shortfall by buying more LNG from other suppliers, including Australia at 36% of imports from January through July, Southeast Asia at 20%, Russia at 12%, and Canada at 4%, with US cargoes at 0.2%.
OilPrice further states that the missile strikes hit QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan Industrial City on March 18-19, destroying two of Qatar’s 14 LNG production trains plus a gas-to-liquids facility. The outlet estimates the lost revenue at about $20 billion a year, notes repairs could take up to five years, and says QatarEnergy declared force majeure on long-term contracts, later extending the order into August as repairs ran long.
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