US President Donald Trump on Saturday ramped up threats to use tariffs to protect the US energy industry from a historic glut of oil as efforts to forge a global deal to cut output appeared to lose momentum.
Trump said at a White House press briefing that he would use tariffs if needed to protect the domestic oil industry, even as he predicted that Saudi Arabia and Russia would come to an agreement to cut output and stem the rout in prices.
However, such a deal looked a bit further from reach at the weekend after a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Russia. A gathering of OPEC+ members and other producers scheduled for today was pushed back to give more time for negotiations.
Saudi Arabia, which last month launched a price war with Russia after OPEC+ talks broke down, has made clear that it would not cut production unless other producers — including the US — also hold back supply.
However, Trump on Saturday said that “I don’t care about OPEC,” a “cartel” he has opposed all his life.
The prospect of a deal to reduce the massive glut of oil caused by the COVID-19 lockdown last week sent benchmark oil futures to a record gain. Oil prices have fallen about 50 percent this year as the pandemic has knocked out as much as one-third of global oil demand.
In the latest maneuver in the price war, Saudi Arabia yesterday postponed its monthly price-setting event for exported oil.
Saudi Aramco’s official selling prices for next month could be pushed to tomorrow or Thursday, a person familiar with the situation said.
The OPEC meeting has been tentatively rescheduled for Thursday.
The move allows the company to have a better idea of how negotiations are going before setting the prices that are its key weapon in its war with Russia for market share.
Last month, it also postponed the event in the midst of wrangling at OPEC+ and responded to the breakdown in those talks with a historic price cut.
On the idea of slapping tariffs on foreign oil, the US oil industry is split. Some independent shale producers — who have been hardest hit by the market slump — are in support, while refiners and large integrated companies are typically opposed.
The American Petroleum Institute, which helped arrange a meeting with Trump on Friday, has argued that tariffs would inject uncertainty into an already rattled global marketplace.
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