In a stunning reversal that validates President Donald Trump’s hardline stance, China caved on Tuesday and lifted its punitive 125% tariff on American ethane imports.
The communist regime had desperately slapped this tariff on U.S. ethane earlier this month in a failed attempt to counter Trump’s brilliant Liberation Day tariff offensive. Obviously, it couldn’t sustain the tariff — China depends on American ethane for its survival, gobbling up about half of our total ethane exports annually, according to federal energy data.
The reality is that major Chinese manufacturers like Satellite Chemical, SP Chemicals, Sinopec, Sanjiang Fine Chemical, and Wanhua Chemical Group can’t function without American ethane from powerhouse U.S. suppliers Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer.
Ethane is just the latest addition to a growing list of American products that China has quietly exempted from its retaliatory tariffs in the ongoing trade war with the United States. This is what winning looks like.
Just last week, Chinese officials began rolling back tariffs on American semiconductors. They’ve also quietly removed duties on pharmaceuticals and aircraft engines. So much for the hysterical predictions that Trump’s trade policies would wreck the U.S. economy — it turns out that all that doom and gloom should have been reserved for China, which has realized the hard way that it needs the United States more than the United States needs China.
News of China lifting tariffs on U.S. ethane comes on the heels of a warning from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who made it clear that Trump’s trade strategy is hitting Beijing where it hurts.
“I think that over time we will see that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China,” Bessent told reporters from the White House on Tuesday. “I’ve seen some very large numbers over the past few days that show if these numbers stay on, Chinese could lose 10 million jobs very quickly. And even if there is a drop in the tariffs that they could lose 5 million jobs.”
“So remember that we are the deficit country,” Bessent said. “They sell almost five times more goods to us than we sell to them. So the onus will be on them to take off these tariffs. They’re unsustainable for them.”
Related: Trump’s Hardball Strategy Is Forcing China to Fold Like a Paper Tiger
“Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary has long advocated that Trump leverage America’s dominant economic position while we still have it.
“We have to squeeze heads while we’re the largest economy on earth,” he told Fox Business last week, noting that the U.S. accounts for 39% of global consumption and 26.1% of world GDP. “Squeeze while you can, otherwise you’ll never get this opportunity again.”
O’Leary also noted that Xi Jinping doesn’t face voter backlash the way American leaders do, but he still has to contend with millions of restless workers if exports dry up.
“He can use his own currency to print money and pay these people for doing nothing, then he gets hyperinflation. Saw that movie in Venezuela. We have leverage,” he warned.
Trump’s hardball approach is doing exactly what it was meant to do. While Biden spent four years appeasing Beijing, Trump’s tariffs are showing China who’s really in charge. It’s a vindication of what conservatives have been saying all along: the only thing China’s communist regime respects is strength.
While other outlets push doom and gloom, we’re reporting on America’s real economic victories. Get exclusive analysis of Trump’s successful trade strategy as a PJ Media VIP member. Join now with the code FIGHT for 60% off and support honest journalism.
