1 January 2025

China firing preemptive trade war shots at Trump

Yong Jian

China has heightened trade war tensions with the United States by extending existing tariffs imposed on a crucial chemical solvent, sanctioning seven American firms on security grounds and threatening to stop buying US semiconductors within a single day.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) announced on December 27 that it will continue to impose anti-dumping duties on n-butanol imports from the US, Taiwan and Malaysia for another five years, effective from December 29, 2024.

The MoC said removing the anti-dumping duties would likely lead to a resumption or continuation of dumping practices and subsequent harm to China’s domestic n-butanol industry.

N-butanol is a key organic chemical used in the production of various products including paints, adhesives and plasticizers.

On December 29, 2018, China imposed 52.2-139.3% tariffs on n-butanol imports from the US and 12.7-26.7% tariffs on those from Malaysia. A 56.1% duty was imposed on all Taiwanese firms, except Formosa Plastics Corp, which only paid 6%.

In 2022, China imported 105,400 tons (66% of total) of n-butanol from Taiwan and 37,300 tons (23.4% of total) from Saudi Arabia, according to a report published by the Beijing-based Huajing Industry Research Institute. The remaining came from Russia, South Africa and Malaysia.

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