Escalation of trade tensions between the US and China is likely to further dampen US crude flows to China, at time when China was seen stepping back into the US market following a cooling-off period. Although crude oil imports are not included in the latest round of China’s tariff increases to US goods announced on May 13, the heightened tensions between the two countries has been enough to put the brakes on oil trade. “China will be wary of buying US cargoes because it could be added at any moment and they would be left holding the baby,” said Sandy Fielden, director of oil and products research at Morningstar ... (full story)