U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his call for OPEC to reduce the oil prices to hurt oil-rich Russia’s economy and Ukraine. After the statement, oil prices slipped on Monday. The Brent crude dropped 53 cents, or 0.68% to $77.97 a barrel by 0430 GMT after settling up 21 cents on Friday.
As soon as President Donald Trump landed in North Carolina to check the storm damage, he said that one strong way to stop the ongoing war is to quickly avoid earning so much money and cut down the crude oil price.
Trump also warned of imposing taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on Russia, and other nations. If the agreement to end the Ukraine war is not done soon. Responding to this statement, Vladimir Putin suggested a meeting with Trump to talk about the war and energy prices.
During his 23rd speech to the global business elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump had called Saudi Arabia and its allies in OPEC to ramp up oil output, a move that would cut down the cost of crude oil, choking a key revenue source to Moscow to fund the war.
In 2024 throughout its presidential campaign, Trump announced to end of Russia’s three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He has been trying to hold a meeting with Putin since winning the election in November. But the Kremlin doesn’t seem to enter into any discussion, saying Putin believes he is about the win the war and hence sees no reason to stop this fight.
Trump’s return to the White House demonstrates a tougher enforcement of U.S. oil sanctions against OPEC member Iran and potentially cutting out the oil exports which are currently over 1.5 million barrels per day.
At present, OPEC and other members hold 5.86 million barrels per day of outcome, or around 5.7% of the demand in the global market, as per the 2022 agreement to support the market.
With the supply drop in Iran after the new sanctions, OPEC; ‘s spare capacity would be an effective support to deal with the declines. This year, the oil price has increased with Brent crude reaching almost $83 on 15th January. It was the highest since August.
Most of the OPEC members depend on oil revenue and have their budget balanced at $80 a barrel or more. In his first term, Trump has already urged OPEC and Saudi Arabia to reduce the costs and try to reduce exports from Iran.
Further, on Sunday Trump announced his plans to impose a 25% tariff on all Colobina goods entering the US, with plans to take it to 50% in the coming week. It has increased a lot of concerns in crude supply. This decision was taken after Colombia refused to launch two US military plans, to carry deported migrants to land.
Currently, the US is the largest buyer of seaborne crude exports of Colombia, buying 183,000 barrels per day, which is 41% of the total export of the country.
Surprisingly, the White House announced on Monday that Colombia has agreed to all the terms presented by President Trump, including the acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia, returned from the US.