By Owain Johnson
At A Glance
- Energy markets are closely watching trade negotiations between the United States and China.
- U.S. exports continued to rise in 2018, even as China stopped buying U.S. crude.
The latest monthly report on Chinese trade data contained yet another reminder of the serious impact that the U.S.-China trade dispute has had on U.S. crude oil exports.
China did not import a single barrel of U.S. crude oil in December. In fact, the world's second largest consumer has barely imported any U.S. crude since July 2018.
In the year before the