Aug 3, 2018 - Energy & Environment

Trade battle with China spreads to U.S. gas exports

The LNG storage facility for China Resource Gas in Xiangyang. Photo: Wang Hu/VCG

Liquified natural gas (LNG) is on the list of products targeted by planned retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods announced by China on Friday morning, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Hitting U.S. LNG exports is one of China's "last major weapons from its energy and commodities arsenal" in the escalating trade war with President Donald Trump, they report.

The big picture: China is an important destination for the expanding U.S. LNG industry. Last year it was the third-largest buyer of U.S. cargoes, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Companies like Cheniere Energy have been exploring opening additional terminals in China for shipment, Bloomberg reports; this development leaves "[b]illions of U.S. dollars" in question.
Other products included in China's planned tariffs are beef, coffee, some aircraft, and more.

Go deeper: China will soon be the world's largest natural gas importer.

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Ben Geman, author of Generate

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Tallying Trump's climate changes

Reproduced from Rhodium Climate Service; Chart: Axios Visuals

The Trump administration's scuttling or weakening of key Obama-era climate policies could together add 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere by 2035, a Rhodium Group analysis concludes.

Why it matters: The 1.8 gigatons is "more than the combined energy emissions of Germany, Britain and Canada in one year," per the New York Times, which first reported on the study.

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Boeing's one-two punch

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX was the worst crisis in the plane-maker’s century-long history. At least until the global pandemic hit.

Why it matters: Wall Street expects it will be cleared to fly again before year-end. Orders for what was once the company’s biggest moneymaker were expected to rebound after the ungrounding, but now the unprecedented slump in travel will dash airlines’ appetite for the MAX and any other new planes, analysts say — putting more pressure on the hard-hit company.

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1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

New downloads of TikTok, WeChat to be blocked in U.S. on Sunday

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Commerce Department issued Friday an order blocking new downloads of WeChat and TikTok in the U.S. as of Sept. 20.

The state of play: President Trump has been in a standoff with TikTok, threatening to ban the app if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not relinquish control to a U.S. company. A deal is in the works with the American tech company Oracle, but would need to go through before Sunday to prevent TikTok from being ousted from app stores.