Trump targets China’s cooking oil trade – but sales are already falling

“I believe China’s deliberately not purchasing our soybeans and causing hardship to our soybean farmers is an economically hostile law. We are considering terminating trade relations with China on cooking oil and other items of trade in retaliation,” Trump wrote on social media Tuesday.

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“For example, we can easily produce cooking oil ourselves, we don’t need to buy it from China. »

The United States has been China’s top market for used cooking oil (UCO), with record imports of 1.27 million tonnes, worth $1.1 billion in 2024. But after China rolled back tax cuts late last year and the United States imposed tariffs on Chinese products this year, imports plunged 65% in January-August to reach 290,690 tonnes, or $286.7 million.

As such, Trump’s comments had a “minimal” impact on the market, two UCO traders in China said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“The US has pretty much stopped buying from China anyway, so the impact is as meaningless as its threats,” said one of the traders who deals with the US market.

“Domestic producers now mainly take orders for Europe and no longer consider the American market,” said the other.

Trade in HCU is low compared to that of soybeans. China imported 22.13 million tonnes of US soybeans last year, worth $12 billion.

“Used cooking oil is a niche business, but it shows how the Trump administration is standing up for American farmers, just as China is shifting its agricultural purchases to other suppliers,” said Chim Lee, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Trump called the change a negotiating tactic. He said this month he hoped to discuss soybeans with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, while saying the United States could suspend much of its imports from China.

The US president has targeted China with a cascade of tariff orders on billions of dollars of imported goods that he says are aimed at reducing the trade deficit, bringing back lost production and crippling the fentanyl trade.

The United States and China have had a tense relationship for years, particularly since Trump took office. They disagree on issues including technology, human rights, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical issues involving Hong Kong, Taiwan and Ukraine.

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