DECOUPLING: US Propane Tanker Diverts Chinese Port Call In Latest Warning Sign For China’s Plastic Factories.

To begin the week, we highlighted a potential breaking point emerging in the global economy due to the escalating tariff war: Chinese plastics manufacturers—heavily reliant on U.S. petrochemicals—now face production halts as shipments are increasingly being diverted from the world’s second-largest economy.

Bloomberg cites new ship-tracking data showing that a very large gas carrier hauling U.S. propane has diverted from its initial destination in China to a new port of call in Japan.

The data showed that BW Gemini is hauling 46,000 tons of propane from the U.S. The gas tanker left Phillips 66 Freeport LPG Export Terminal in late March and was initially headed for Yantai, China. However, in recent days, while traversing the Pacific Ocean, the port of call was changed to Imari, Japan.

There was no explanation for BW Gemini’s sudden port calling switch from China to Japan, but in recent weeks, Beijing slapped 125% tariffs on all liquefied petroleum gas.

As noted earlier today, Trump holds most of the, er, trump cards.