Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia’s richest person Mukesh Ambani, is stepping up purchases of liquefied ethane from the United States, taking cargoes originally destined for China as Washington’s trade dispute with Beijing reroutes energy flows. A vessel from the U.S. Gulf Coast is due to reach Reliance’s Dahej terminal in Gujarat in the coming days, underscoring the Indian conglomerate’s long-term pivot toward the cheaper feedstock for its $74 billion oil-to-chemicals business. The shift comes days before a July 9 deadline for concluding a limited U.S.–India trade deal that could otherwise trigger 26 percent reciprocal tariffs. By absorbing surplus American ethane, New Delhi can argue it is helping to narrow the U.S. trade deficit, potentially gaining leverage in the negotiations while easing pressure on sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy. Reliance became the first Indian firm to import ethane at scale in 2017 and now plans a 100-kilometre pipeline to move the fuel to another Gujarat complex, alongside an expansion of its specialised carrier fleet from six to nine ships. Ethane yields up to 80 percent ethylene—more than double the efficiency of naphtha—while costing roughly half as much on an energy-equivalent basis, giving Ambani both a cost advantage and a geopolitical opening as the global petrochemical supply chain adjusts to U.S.–China tensions.