Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 10 May.

Trump threatens to raise tariffs on chems, other China imports to 25%
US President Donald Trump threatened on Sunday to raise tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200bn worth of Chinese imports, including several chemicals and plastics.

US chem stocks fall despite big recovery on Dow Jones
US-listed chemical stocks followed by ICIS mostly failed to match Monday’s turnaround on the major indices in the US, which opened the day much lower after President Donald Trump threatened to impose more tariffs on Chinese exports.

China threatens countermeasures if US raises tariffs
China will adopt countermeasures if the US carries out with its threat to raise tariffs on imports from that country.

LACC hosts opening ceremony for US cracker, EG plant in Louisiana
The Westlake Chemical and Lotte Chemical joint venture, known as LACC, hosted a grand opening ceremony on Thursday for its US ethane cracker and ethylene glycols (EG) plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

US tariff hike on $200bn Chinese goods takes effect; Beijing to retaliate
The US effectively hiked tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese goods to 25% at midday, with China vowing to retaliate, escalating the trade war between the two economic giants now on its 10th month.

End to US-China trade truce heightens threat to global economy
The US’ tariff hike on hundreds of billions of Chinese goods would trigger a further shift in global trade flows for some petrochemicals, possibly benefiting southeast Asian markets in the short run, while posing a more serious threat to world economic prospects.

Escalating US-China trade war threatens H2 chem recovery – analyst
The recent escalation in the trade dispute between the US and China is raising doubts about a recovery that the chemical industry has expected to take place in the second half of this year, analysts at an investment bank said on Friday.