Letter from China: Geopolitics injects uncertainty into US LNG take

China has drastically cut its imports of US LNG this year, but Chinese buyers are still signing up for more volumes

The US and China have always had a complicated relationship when it comes to LNG. But China’s interest in US volumes has seesawed more than ever this year amid the backdrop of geopolitical tension in Asia-Pacific and Europe’s energy crisis. LNG became caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war in 2018-19, when Beijing imposed a 25pc tariff on US imports that effectively halted shipments. But the fuel then emerged as a rare point of bilateral cooperation in 2021, with Chinese buyers signing a flurry of long-term SPAs with US exporters. Chinese imports of US LNG have fallen dramatically this year, however, confounding predictions of a continuation of last year’s robust flows and procure