Oil prices react to Trump's new tariffs

Oil prices fell on Thursday, July 10, as market participants perceived US President Trump's latest statements on new tariffs as a threat to global economic growth.

This is reported by Economic Pravda with reference to Reuters.

At the same time, signs of strong demand for gasoline in the US partially offset losses.

The report said that Brent crude futures fell by USD 0.03 to USD 70.16 per barrel.

The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude fell by USD 0.06 to USD 68.32 per barrel.

According to the analytical company Kpler, macroeconomic uncertainty on the demand side has created a more cautious environment for buyers, especially in Asia.

On Wednesday, Trump threatened Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, with a 50% tariff on its exports to the United States after a public spat with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Trump had previously announced plans to impose tariffs on copper, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and his administration had sent letters regarding tariffs to the Philippines, Iraq and other countries, including key US partners South Korea and Japan.

Amid concerns among policymakers about inflationary pressures from the tariffs, only a handful of Federal Reserve officials at their June 17-18 meeting suggested a rate cut could be on the cards this month.

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive, which weighs on oil demand.

Crude oil inventories rose last week while gasoline and distillate inventories fell, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, partly supporting prices.

Gasoline demand rose 6% to 9.2 million barrels per day (bpd), the EIA said.

The average number of daily flights worldwide in the first eight days of July was 107,600, a record high.

Meanwhile, China's flight numbers hit a five-month high, and port and cargo activity pointed to a steady expansion in trade compared with a year ago,

JP Morgan said this in a client note.

It also said that global oil demand has been growing by an average of 0.97 million bpd since the beginning of the year, broadly in line with the forecast of 1 million bpd.

In addition, there is doubt that the recent increase in production quotas announced by OPEC+ will lead to an actual increase in production.

OPEC+ plans to approve another large-scale increase in production in September, completing both the cancellation of voluntary cuts by eight participants and the transition of the United Arab Emirates to a new quota.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, oil prices fell after OPEC+ countries unexpectedly announced a more significant increase in oil production in August than expected.