China has stopped buying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, halting cargoes for more than ten weeks and widening the effects of the Sino‑American trade conflict to energy supplies.

Since a 69,000‑tonne tanker from Corpus Christi, Texas, reached the south‑eastern province of Fujian on 6 February, no other U.S. LNG vessel has docked in China. 

A second ship bound for the mainland changed course to Bangladesh after failing to arrive before Beijing’s 15% tariff on American LNG took effect on 10 February. That duty has since risen to 49%, making the fuel uneconomical for Chinese buyers for the foreseeable future.

The halt repeats a year‑long block on U.S. LNG during Donald Trump’s first term. Analysts say the latest stand‑off could have wider consequences, drawing China closer to Russian supplies and clouding the prospects of the multibillion‑dollar export terminals now being built in the United States and Mexico.

“There will be long‑term consequences,” said Anne‑Sophie Corbeau, a natural‑gas specialist at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “I do not think Chinese LNG importers will ever contract any new U.S. LNG.”

China already takes only a small share of its LNG from the United States. After Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Chinese firms found it more profitable to resell U.S. cargoes to Europe. Last year, just 6% of China’s LNG imports came from American plants, down from 11% in 2021.

Even so, Chinese groups, including PetroChina and Sinopec, hold 13 long‑term contracts for U.S. LNG running as far as 2049. Those off‑take agreements were crucial to financing new Gulf Coast projects, but developers have recently tried to renegotiate terms to reflect higher inflation and the burden of Chinese tariffs.

Beijing is meanwhile turning to Moscow 

In the short term, few expect trade to resume.