Pecans become latest flashpoint in US-China trade tensions

US pecans are caught in the latest China trade squeeze. — Unsplash pic

First Published: Thursday, 10 Sep 2026 7:59 PM MYT

BEIJING, Sept 10 — China has extended an anti-dumping investigation into pecans from the United States and Mexico, Beijing’s commerce ministry said on Thursday, two weeks before an expected visit by President Xi Jinping to Washington.

The probe launched last year was originally expected to expire on September 25, one day after President Donald Trump’s anticipated meeting with Xi in the US capital.

The investigation has now been extended until March 25 next year, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement on Thursday, citing “the complexity of this case”.

Beijing began imposing steep levies of 54.3 per cent on pecans from the United States and between 17.8 per cent and 51.6 per cent on those from Mexico in August.

The fees were initiated after the commerce ministry’s “preliminary ruling” found that pecans were being dumped in the Chinese market, “causing substantial damage to the relevant domestic industry”.

The United States and Mexico are the world’s biggest producers of pecans.

US exports of the nuts to China were worth US$93.1 million (RM391 million) in 2023, according to the US Foreign Agricultural Service.

The row over pecans adds to rumbling frictions in trade relations between the world’s top two economies, which escalated sharply last year following Trump’s return to the White House.

Beijing and Washington reached a shaky truce late last year in a tit-for-tat tariff war initiated by Trump, although China’s towering trade surplus and fierce technological competition still spur tensions. — AFP