Global Oil Prices plunge Amid Tariff Threats

• Global Oil Prices plunge Amid Tariff Threats

Oil prices fell on Monday morning during the Asian trading session after President Trump threatened China with tougher tariffs on Sunday.

President Trump had accused China of purposely slowing down the ongoing trade discussions and threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent from the previous 10 percent.

He also spoke on the possibility of extending a new 25 percent duty to another $325 billion imports that aren’t currently covered.

President Trump’s Sunday tweets threw another twist to global perceived positive trade talks after both sides had been saying for weeks that negotiations were going fine.

Brent crude, against which Nigeria’s crude oil is measured, plunged from $71.58 a barrel it closed on Friday to $69.32 on Monday during Asian trading session.

While the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dipped from $61.29 a barrel to $60.25 during the same session.

Emerging markets plunged with the rise in uncertainty surrounding the direction of the much-awaited trade talks.

“Risks of a full blown trade war are escalating,” said Chua Hak Bin, a senior economist at Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. in Singapore. “Trump’s threat may backfire as China will not want to negotiate with a gun pointing at their heads.”