torsdag 20. september 2018

China strikes back by going after America's energy companies

The United States has an abundance of natural gas that pollution-riddled China badly needs to wean itself off coal. Eying China's voracious demand, Cheniere Energy, ExxonMobil (XOM) and other American energy companies are racing to build more than two dozen expensive facilities to export liquefied natural gas, which is super-cooled natural gas that can be transported by ship.

China even marked President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing last fall by agreeing to invest as much as $43 billion into an LNG project in Alaska. But this pairing of an able buyer and well-supplied seller no longer looks like a slam dunk. As part of the escalating trade war, China on Tuesday said it will impose a 10% tariff on $60 billion of US products -- including LNG.