[Global Times-Global Network Reporter Ni Hao] According to Reuters, the United States recently retaliated against "China does not buy American soybeans" by threatening to "not buy Chinese edible oil". However, industry experts said that the U.S. side may make an oolong in a hurry, and its so-called "not buying Chinese edible oil" may refer to "not buying Chinese waste edible oil".

According to Reuters's report, US President Trump posted on the social platform on Tuesday, "China deliberately does not buy our soybeans and causes difficulties to our soybean growers. I think this is an economic hostile act. In retaliation, we are considering terminating our business dealings with China in edible oil and other trade fields. For example, we can easily produce edible oil ourselves without buying it from China."

But industry experts revealed to the Global Times that China is the world¡¯s largest consumer of soybean oil and dining oil, and the world¡¯s largest importer, with very few exports of dining oil. Data from the General Office of Customs show that in 2024, China exports about 4,000 tons of dining oil to the United States, worth only about $10 million. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that U.S. dining oil imports mainly come from Canada, Indonesia and the European Union, rather than China. Compared to this, the U.S. is China¡¯s largest export market for wasted dining oil. In 2024, the U.S. purchases about 1 million tons of China¡¯s wasted dining oil, worth more than $1 billion.

According to industry experts, this shows that the amount of waste oil China exported to the U.S. last year was 100 times the amount of oil exported to it.Therefore, we can think that what the U.S. says ¡°don¡¯t buy Chinese oil¡± may mean ¡°don¡¯t buy Chinese waste oil¡±.

The above-mentioned experts further stated that waste edible oil can be used as renewable energy raw materials such as biodiesel after recycling. At present, with the continuous improvement of global green development, waste edible oil is in short supply in both domestic and international markets. Even if the United States doesn't buy it from China, then China's waste edible oil will not be worried about selling it. The threat of the United States to China with this card will actually have no effect.