Trump threatens cooking oil ban as China trade spat deepens
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A Chinese worker fills bottles of soybean oil. Photo: Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The U.S. could cut off imports of cooking oil from China in the fight over soybean exports, President Trump threatened Tuesday.
Why it matters: The sudden re-escalation of the trade war, at a time of rising inflation at the grocery store and elsewhere, threatens to amplify the pain for consumers.
- It's another salvo in the resurgent conflict between the world's two largest economies, after both sides imposed new export controls and port fees, and Trump threatened a fresh 100% tariff on China.
Zoom out: China has traditionally been the top U.S. export market for soybeans — a trade that completely ceased in the last few months.
- The government promised a bailout, which has yet to materialize.
- Meanwhile, China recently bought large cargoes of soybeans from Argentina, after that country dropped a key export tax just as the U.S. was pledging a bailout there, too.
What they're saying: "I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
- "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."
The intrigue: A major part of U.S. cooking oil trade with China is actually in imports of used cooking oil (UCO), which is used to make biofuels.
- Domestic soybean oil production has risen sharply in recent years, the USDA notes — though there, too, most of the increase is for biofuels.
- Per USDA data, the largest U.S. cooking oil imports for food purposes actually come from Canada, Indonesia and the European Union.
What to watch: Whether the president acts on the threat.
- After floating the 100% tariff last Friday, over the weekend Trump said "it will all be fine" with China.
