Global Oil Prices Tumble After Trump Cautions OPEC

• Global Oil Prices Tumble After Trump Cautions OPEC

Global oil prices tumbled on Monday following President Trump’s tweet on rising global oil prices.

The U.S. President told the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to relax on artificially boosting oil prices as prices were too high.

“Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. The world cannot take a price hike – fragile!” Trump tweeted.

Crude oil prices that were trading higher fell immediately with Brent crude declining by $2.43 to $64.51 a barrel after trading above $67 a barrel last week.

While West Texas Intermediate declined by $1.38 to $55.88 a barrel.

Trump had earlier announced he would extend the deadline previously set for raising tariffs on Chinese goods due to the progress of the ongoing trade talks.

Trump said the trade talks were productive. “The U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” he said in a Twitter posting on Sunday evening.

The comment, however, boosted oil market outlook as traders attributed it to a possible rise in global oil demand going forward.

Brent crude pared losses slightly to $65.41 a barrel on Tuesday at 3:30 pm Nigerian time.