From Gas Importer to Gas Superpower: How American LNG Became a Weapon for Peace
Twenty years ago, America was importing liquefied natural gas. Today it is the world's largest exporter, shipping an average of 17.4 billion cubic feet a day in the first half of this year. We argue ending the export pause and backing new terminals was one of President Trump's most consequential decisions.
By Clara Hughes
Altas World News Opinion Estimated read time: 7 minutes Key takeaways U.S. liquefied natural gas exports averaged 17.4 billion cubic feet per day in the first half of 2026, up 23% from a year earlier and the fastest growth since large-scale exports began in 2016, according to the Energy Information Administration [1]. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the United States exported more than 100 million tonnes of LNG in 2025, the first country ever to do so, and is on track to top 120 million tonnes this year [2]. In our view, reversing the 2024 pause on new export approvals turned American gas into one of the most powerful tools of U.S. influence abroad [3][4]. A reversal almost nobody predicted Here is a fact that surprises many people. In 2007, the United States imported about 771 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas, its most ever, according to the EIA [5]. America was expected to become a major gas buyer. Instead, the shale revolution changed everything. By 2025, LNG imports had fallen to about 14 billion cubic feet for the whole year [5]. Now the flow runs the other way. At this year's export pace of 17.4 billion cubic feet a day [1], America ships out the equivalent of its record 2007 import total in about 44 days. That is our own calculation. What LNG is Liquefied natural gas is natural gas cooled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, which turns it into a liquid about 600 times smaller in volume. That lets it be loaded onto special tankers and shipped across oceans to countries that cannot get gas by pipeline [6]. The process requires giant export terminals, mostly on the Gulf Coast. Each one costs billions of dollars and needs federal approval to ship gas to most countries. The pause and the restart In January 2024, President Biden announced "a temporary pause on pending decisions of liquefied natural gas exports," citing climate change [3]. The pause applied to pending approvals for exports to countries without free trade agreements with the United States…