SINGAPORE – Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors lowered their demand growth expectations due to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies.
Brent crude futures fell by 44 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $65.42 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 40 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $61.65 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell more than $1 on Monday.
“Markets are closely monitoring the US-China trade negotiations, understanding that deteriorating trade relations between the world’s two largest economies could lead the global economy towards a recession,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.
“The lack of confidence in future demand and the absence of concrete signals for demand revival in mainland China will continue to overshadow oil prices.”
US President Donald Trump’s push to reshape world trade by imposing tariffs on all US imports has created a high risk that the global economy will slip into a recession this year, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll.
China, hit with the steepest of those tariffs, has responded with its own levies against US imports, stoking a trade war between the top two oil consuming nations. That has prompted analysts to sharply lower their oil demand and price forecasts.
