Oil Prices drop
Oil prices dropped on Monday, following the entry into force of fresh tariffs enforced by the United States and China, increasing worries about a further impact on worldwide development and demand for crude oil.
Brent crude was down 42 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $58.83 per barrel at 0041 GMT, while U.S. oil was down 27 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $54.83 per barrel.
On Sunday, the United States started placing 15 percent taxes on a multitude of Chinese products–including shoes, intelligent watches and flat-screen TVs–as China imposed fresh obligations on U.S. oil, the recent escalation in a bruising trade conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the parties would still be meeting for discussions later this month.
Trump comments:
Trump, commenting on Twitter, said his objective was to decrease U.S. dependence on China and again encouraged American businesses to discover alternative vendors outside of China.
Beijing’s 5% tax on U.S. crude tags was the first target for petrol since the world’s two biggest countries began their trade conflict more than a year earlier.
“Trade and tariff overhangs are inevitable for oil markets, so while trade uncertainties remain, it will be hard for oil to avoid worries about the menace to worldwide supply,” said Stephen Innes, APAC industry strategist at AxiTrader.
Elsewhere, OPEC’s oil production grew in August for the first month of this year as greater supplies from Iraq and Nigeria overcame restriction by Saudi Arabia’s top exporter and losses induced by U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to the Reuters study.
South Korea’s exports collapsed in August for the fifth successive month, with a sluggish demand from its largest customer, China, and depressed computer chips prices worldwide, according to public information on Sunday.
The gloomy information obscured the perspective for Asia’s fourth-largest economy as a brewing trade conflict with Japan arose as a fresh danger because of the extended US-China trade war.
Source: EuroNews
