… from Press TV, Tehran
[ Editor’s Note: Trump’s claim that trade wars are “easy to win” is going to be tested. Chinese counter-sanctions are being targeted toward Trump-supporter pocketbooks, something they are not accustomed to dealing with when their man is in the White House.
China had its 25% tariffs on US-imported oil ready to go in anticipation of the first salvo by Trump tariffs.
But China is getting a “two-fer” by shifting imports to Iran, a twist of the knife that is going to stimulate questions being asked, such as, “didn’t anyone consider that China could turn the US oil-purchasing spigot off in a jiffy, and help Iran cushion its sanctions at the same time?” It was a classic response to unipolarism.
Despite the EU stiff-arming China’s offer of coordinating US counter-sanctions, China has publicly announced its decision to replace lost US business by doing more with the EU. The key Silk Road players are getting a blazing example of how strengthening trade with each other is a defensive shield to foreign sanctions by you know who.
In the background, something that could take longer, is freezing the US out of being an international airline parts supplier, where previously the US could sanction airline sales deals on the grounds that US technology is involved. No one ever saw that coming.
And neither have the idiot Neocon geniuses, who apparently never considered that such extortionist actions would create a rush to replace the use of all US technology, due to its being exploited as a sanctions Trojan Horse … Jim W. Dean ]
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– First published … July 16, 2018 –
Indications are growing that Chinese companies are scrapping plans to purchase oil from the United States and are instead turning to Iran for imports in what appears to be a result of escalating trade tariff war between Beijing and Washington.
Sinopec, Asia’s top refiner, was quoted by media as announcing that it planned to limit purchases of oil from the US and that it would instead increase imports from Iran.
Sinopec would continue to buy Iranian oil on fears that China would impose tariffs on US oil imports, Asia Times quoted an unnamed company executive as saying.
The report further added that many other Chinese companies were also planning to limit their oil imports from the US in favor of bigger purchases from Iran.
China has threatened to retaliate by slapping duties on several American commodities, including oil.
China, the world’s top crude oil buyer and Iran’s biggest client, imported around 655,000 barrels a day on average from the Islamic Republic in the first quarter of this year, according to official Chinese customs data. The figure was equivalent to more than a quarter of Iran’s total exports over the period, media earlier reported.
Sinopec and state-oil trader Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp already account for close to 90 percent of China’s total Iranian oil purchases collectively. State oil group CNPC buys the rest, according to a recent report by Reuters.
Last week, China’s biggest refiner ShanDong Dongming Petrochemical Group also announced that it had halted crude oil purchases from the US and instead turned to Iran for imports.
The announcement – as reported by Russia Today – came amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington over trade tariffs.
RT added in its report that the company’s decision came as Chinese authorities were planning to impose tariffs on US crude imports and replace them with oil from West Africa and the Middle East, including Iran.
It also highlighted an announcement by Beijing that it was not going to fall into line with US sanctions banning business with the Islamic republic.
China is reportedly reviewing plans to hit back at aggressive US trade measures “in other ways,” a report says, citing Chinese officials.
China is America’s second-biggest crude-oil customer with exports reportedly totaling 400,000 barrels a day at the beginning of July. However, in response to the latest US tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing slapped American crude imports with a 25-percent levy, RT further wrote.
US tariffs of 25 percent on $34 billion of Chinese imports took effect on July 6. The Chinese government retaliated with duties on the same value of US imports, ranging from soybeans to cars, and has vowed to respond proportionately to any new US tariffs.
Shortly after that, President Donald Trump said the US could impose tariffs on more than $500 billion worth of Chinese goods, while his administration has prepared a new $200 billion list of Chinese products that could be levied with 10-percent tariffs
Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus. He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews. He now writes and posts periodically for VT.
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If trade wars are easy to win why isn’t every nation doing it? Trump is fighting for the supremacy of the oil dollar. Between gold backed Chinese oil futures, bartering between nations, BRICS bank, Iranian settlement banks being opened in India, and others, it seems the US is likely to lose the sanctions war. I guess that’s a good thing. Bullies usually end up being avoided and ignored. Either the misfit changes his ways, or he stops being invited to the parties. But if the bully continues to be a threat the whole neighborhood ambushes him and beats him bloody.
Have sanctions created a buyers market for countries willing to ignore US/Israeli sanctions?
The United States having a middle class is the single biggest obstacle to the New World Orders’ takeover of the planet. However we seem to be falling in line with the plan.
Excellent comments by Jim Dean. Obviously Trump is not the business “genius” we have been told. In fact he is so stupid he doesn’t understand a trade war and how foolish he was to initiate one. This played right into their hands because a trade war against the criminals running the U.S. and Israel is exactly what the doctor ordered. In fact the whole world should boycott both of these international criminals.
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