Chinese Plastics Buyers Resist Switch Back to US Propane Despite Pause in Trade War

Chinese plastics factories left without US raw material when trade relations collapsed earlier this year are holding back from returning to many of those suppliers despite a pause in hostilities, underscoring the difficulty in restoring commercial ties between the world’s two largest economies.

Beijing’s retaliation to President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs effectively made American energy sales to China unviable, including the propane used to make plastics. Last year, before the new administration took the helm, almost 60% of Chinese imports of the liquefied petroleum gas came from the US.