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Ethanol is also on China’s retaliation list

China is threatening to increase its already high tariff rate on U.S. ethanol in response to the Trump Administration’s tariffs announcement.

If implemented, it would be another blow to the ethanol industry’s efforts to grow the potentially huge Chinese market. Even with those existing tariffs, China imported 22 million gallons of U.S. ethanol this past December, which was 13 percent of total U.S. exports for the month.

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen calls China’s response “entirely predictable” and says it’s another reason to expand domestic biofuel demand.

“It is my fervent hope that the White House now fully understands the impact these actions will have on America’s ethanol industry and farmers, and we urge the administration to redouble its efforts to expand demand for ethanol here at home,” Dinneen said in a statement. “Unfortunately, over the last several months, EPA has been consistently and aggressively destructing biofuel demand. That must stop and meaningful action to expand biofuel demand must begin by allowing the year-round use of E15 nationwide.”