The United States exports relatively little coal to China – 11.6 million tons of it in 2024, a fraction of what China imports overall.
Yet of that quantity it received from the U.S., more than 6 million tons of it came from West Virginia, according to the West Virginia Coal Association.
China has responded to President Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on Chinese imports with its own 15% tariff on U.S. coal.
Though it’s possible that the U.S. and China will come to an agreement that cancels the tariffs or puts them on hold – much as Canada and Mexico did after Trump imposed tariffs on those countries – Chris Hamilton, the coal association’s president, says he’s concerned about the impact of tariffs on coal.
West Virginia leads the nation in coal exports, Hamilton says, and they account for about half of the state’s coal output.
The state produced 86 million tons of coal last year. It was shipped to 30 states and 45 countries.
Most of the coal West Virginia produces is thermal coal, the kind used to make electricity. But most of the coal it exports is metallurgical, the kind used in steelmaking.
Domestic consumption of thermal coal has been in steady decline as natural gas and now renewables have eroded its market share.
This story was distributed by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKYU in Kentucky and NPR.
