(Bloomberg) — Oil fluctuated near the lowest closing level in 11 weeks as US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans became murkier.
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Brent crude edged above $73 a barrel, after settling on Wednesday at the lowest since Dec. 10, amid conflicting announcements from the White House on measures against Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Crude is on track for its biggest monthly loss since September as the prospect of trade wars casts a pall over the outlooks for economic growth and energy demand in the US and China, the world’s two largest consumers.
“The jury is very much out on how the political and economic agenda of Donald Trump will impact growth,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at brokers PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. “Reciprocal tariffs, tax and spending cuts could elevate inflationary pressure and dent economic prosperity.”
At the same time, prices are drawing some support from dangers to global oil supplies.
Trump said he planned to revoke Chevron Corp.’s oil license to operate in Venezuela, threatening the nation’s recovery. Trading giant Trafigura Group flagged the prospect of tighter sanctions against Iran as the biggest upside risk. The OPEC+ producer group is considering delaying the restart of halted production.
But there are also tentative signs that barrels in some regions could begin to flow again.
OPEC member Iraq said that it had reached a pact with Kurdistan to resume crude exports through a pipeline shuttered for almost two years, without providing a time frame. An imminent restart of the link has been touted many times before without coming to fruition.
On Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit the US on Friday, President Trump said. That comes as the US makes headway on discussions to end the three-year war between Moscow and Kyiv, a potential shift that could spur a loosening of sanctions on Russian flows.
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