A liquefied natural gas carrier with a US shipment appears to have reached a Chinese terminal, potentially marking the first American cargo taken by China since it imposed tariffs more than a year ago.
The Al Fat’h, which loaded at Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility in Louisiana in June, was moored at Yangpu port in southern China on Thursday. The port has reloaded several cargoes over the past year, indicating that the shipment may be re-exported.
If the cargo unloads at the port, it would be the first since tensions escalated between the countries in February 2025.
China’s imports of US LNG subsequently plunged as trade between the world’s largest seller and buyer of seaborne gas unraveled. Beijing slapped tariffs on US LNG in retaliation to levies on Chinese goods by the Trump administration. LNG has been caught up in trade conflicts between the two countries before. In President Donald Trump’s first term, China didn’t take a shipment from the US for about 400 days.
The latest thaw also highlights how the war in the Middle East is altering LNG flows, after the conflict largely choked shipments from major exporters in the Persian Gulf and prompted Asian nations to seek cargoes from elsewhere.
