Trump threatens oil tax to save USUS President Donald Trump 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 on Saturday at a White House press briefing he'd 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.
But 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 today was
pushed back to Thursday, to give more time for negotiations.
Saudi Arabia, which launched a price war last month with Russia after Opec+ talks broke down, has made clear that it won't cut production unless other producers - including the US - also hold back supply. But Trump said: "I don't care about Opec," a "cartel" he's opposed all his life.
The prospect of a deal to reduce the massive glut of oil caused by the coronavirus lockdown sent benchmark oil futures to a record gain last week. Oil prices have fallen about 50 percent this year as the pandemic has knocked out as much as
a third of global oil demand. That means producers are going to have to reduce output eventually - with or without a deal - as
storage both on land and at sea fills up.In the latest maneuver in the price war, Saudi Arabia postponed yesterday its monthly price-setting event for exported oil to tomorrow or 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.
Source: Bloomberg
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section- ... to-save-US
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"