Falling U.S. energy sales in China and India failed to offset increases elsewhere in Asia as the Trump Administration’s trade policies have upended Asia’s energy imports.
While Japan and South Korea have increased their imports of American crude oil, China has slashed U.S. crude and LNG imports, after halting purchases of LNG in February in response to the trade frictions with the United States, according to data from Kpler cited by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell.
India has also reduced LNG imports from America this year as the two countries have yet to reach a trade deal amid difficult negotiations and U.S. accusations that India’s imports of Russian crude are propping up the Kremlin’s war chest to continue the war in Ukraine.
Several major Asian economies have reached trade deals with the United States this year, pledging to buy higher volumes of American energy products in exchange for lower tariffs.
For example, Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, has signaled it could buy an additional $10 billion worth of American oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Indonesia also plans to slash its fuel imports from Singapore and source more refined products from the United States. Argus reported in May that state energy firm Pertamina is considering importing oil products from the United States.
South Korea and Japan have also pledged higher imports of U.S. energy as part of their respective trade deals with the Trump Administration.
Japan has more than doubled its U.S. crude oil purchases to 84,500 barrels per day (bpd) arriving in 2025, from just 34,000 bpd last year, per the Kpler data.
South Korea, the top importer of U.S. crude in Asia, only saw a minor increase to 470,000 bpd from 465,000 bpd in 2024.
But China’s withdrawal from U.S. crude purchases weighs significantly on overall Asian crude imports from America. China slashed its purchases by 84% from 2024 to just 38,350 bpd in 2025, according to Kpler.
As a result, overall Asian crude imports from the U.S. are on track to average 1.43 million bpd this year, down from 1.56 million bpd in 2024 and the record 1.65 million bpd imported in 2023, the Kpler data showed.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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