The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that China has emerged as the top customer for Canadian oil shipped on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, as a U.S. trade war has shifted crude flows in the year since the pipeline started operating. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that China's new interest in Canadian oil comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war has strained relations between Washington and Ottawa. It also reflects the impact of U.S. sanctions on crude from countries like Russia and Venezuela. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, but its main oil-producing province of Alberta is landlocked. That means the bulk of Canadian oil -- about 90 per cent -- is exported to the U.S. via pipelines that run north-south, such as TC Energy's Keystone. The $34-billion Trans Mountain is Canada's only east-west oil pipeline, carrying oil to the Pacific coast. The expansion, which began operations on May 1, 2024, tripled the pipeline's capacity to 890,000 barrels per day and opened opportunities for Canadian oil along the U.S. West Coast and in Asian markets. TMX was 77 per cent full on average in 2024, below its 83-per-cent forecast, but TMX hopes to increase that to 92 per cent in 2027.