Crude oil prices moved lower earlier today while traders took a step back to assess the situation and how deeply Trump’s tariffs would affect economic growth prospects and the global oil demand outlook.
Later in the day, however, prices may yet rebound after China reported stronger than expected GDP growth during the first quarter, a day after reporting a strong rise in crude oil imports in March.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $64.48 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $61.13 per barrel.
China, meanwhile, reported March oil imports of over 12 million barrels daily, which was the highest import rate since August 2023, and came thanks to a ramp-up in purchases from Iran and Russia as traders found ways around the latest U.S. sanctions on both exporters. China’s crude oil imports over the first two months of the year fell by 5% compared to the same period of 2024 as the farewell round of sanctions that the Biden administration imposed on Russian energy affected international flows.
The world’s largest oil importer also reported economic growth of 5.4% for the first quarter of the year. This was flat in the fourth quarter of 2024, but it was higher than the 5.1% growth rate predicted by economists polled by Reuters. One economist, however, suggests it might not last.
“In each of the past two years China had a high-flying first quarter and an underwhelming second quarter,” Xu Tianchen from the Economist Intelligence Unit told Reuters. The analyst recommended “a forceful and timely policy response” to limit the adverse effects of the tariff war on the Chinese economy.
“The downward trend for oil prices remains intact and we may expect initial optimism around tariff rollbacks to fade, and the underlying macro headwinds on upcoming economic data could bring markets back to a more sobering reality,” IG analyst Yeap Jun Rong told Reuters.
Source: By Irina Slav from Oilprice.com