Trade Tensions and Their Impact on the Petrochemical Industry

As US president Donald Trump revives his trade war, business leaders may seek certainty by switching to local and regional supply chains.

-          Businesses need stability, certainty to make investment decisions

-          Trade war could drive more national/regional industrial and chemical supply chains 

-          But reshoring can be very expensive and time-consuming

-          New technologies such as 3-D printing and AI support local production

-          Export-dependent US chemicals have a lot to lose from a trade war  

-          US exported more than 10 million tonnes of polyethylene (PE) to Europe in 2023