US-China tensions heat up as Trump threatens to block cooking oil imports
Donald Trump has threatened to cut off all imports of cooking oil from China, in another escalation of the war of words over trade between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the latest trade tussle with China over soybeans represents “an Economically Hostile Act”.
He said: “We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution.
“As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.”
China has been the leading export market for US-grown soybeans, but has almost totally stopped buying in recent months as trade relations have deteriorated.
Instead, there has been a recent upsurge in Chinese soybean imports from Argentina, which are now levied at a lower 26 per cent tariff rate – down from 33 per cent – as of September.
This presents awkwardness for Argentina as its president Javier Milei is a close international ally of Trump’s, and the two men met on Tuesday – just as Trump was preparing his cooking oil threats.
This comes as the US puts forward a $20bn bailout plan to help rescue the South American nation from a currency crisis, amid the tumbling value of the peso and firesales of Argentine stocks and bonds.
Can this be settled by November?
There are two key moments coming up that will define the next phase of the US and China’s cold war over trade.
One is the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping, set for later on in October, which US treasury secretary Scott Bessent insists is still going ahead in spite of the trade tensions.
The two leaders are set to meet in South Korea, in their first face-to-face meeting since Trump returned to power in January.
The other moment is 1 November, which is the date that Trump’s additional 100 per cent tax on Chinese imports is set to kick in.
Again on Truth Social, the US President had blamed Beijing’s export controls on rare earths and critical minerals for the new levy.
Meanwhile, the US is 15 days into a government shutdown, the first since mid-way through Trump’s previous term in office.