“So far, there has been no discussion of tariffs, either on India or on China,” one of the unnamed sources told Reuters, adding that Brussels was just wrapping up a trade deal with India and did not want to jeopardize that.
We will then look at some of the key market movers early this week before providing you with the latest analysis of the top news events taking place in the global energy complex over the past few days. We hope you enjoy.
The Trump-Putin meeting this Friday and the oil trade spat with India have been hogging the headlines these days, but meanwhile, the tariff war continues—and it may end with a complete rearrangement of global supply chains.
Crude oil prices were headed for a steep weekly drop as of Friday morning, with a combination of tariff fears and OPEC+ production instilling a strong sense of bearishness in oil traders.
With global growth already showing signs of slowing, the possibility of another round of tit-for-tat trade measures has weighed more heavily on oil sentiment than localized supply shocks. Reuters cited analysts on Friday as saying that the muted price response to the Kurdistan outages suggests markets are increasingly discounting temporary disruptions unless they escalate or coincide with broader geopolitical risk.
Despite energy trade being one of the focal points of trade negotiations between the U.S. and its partners, the dominant perception about the effect of tariffs on oil prices is negative. Most analysts point to the effect of tariffs on the economy of countries being “punished” with them, and, consequently, on oil demand.
When U.S. President Donald Trump came into office in January, he promised to back greater oil and gas production, doubling down on his “drill, baby, drill” catch phrase. He rapidly introduced executive orders aimed at encouraging new oil and gas exploration across the country while reining in the renewable energy industry. However, since these early promises, Trump appears to be increasingly alienating the oil and gas industry as companies battle low oil prices, the uncertainty of a trade war, and several other challenges.
Japan will tout its prowess in building ice-breakers, a growing area of need as security concerns in the Arctic region mount, while also offering to help repair US battleships that patrol the Asia-Pacific, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday, as his hand-picked trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa returned to Tokyo following a third-round of discussions with US counterparts in Washington.
Developers of U.S. LNG export projects have started taking final investment decisions on new facilities this year, with several plans expected to add in 2025 to Woodside’s Louisiana LNG approval, despite rising construction costs due to President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
The European Union is preparing to impose up to €100 billion ($113 billion) in tariffs on US goods if trade talks fail, according to a new report by Bloomberg this morning.
The draft list of retaliatory measures will be circulated to member states as early as Wednesday, with a one-month consultation period before finalization.