Oil falls in Asia trading on uncertainty over impact of Trump’s energy policies

Oil prices fell in Asia trading on Thursday. Losses continue amid uncertainty over how tariffs and energy policies proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump will affect global economic growth and energy demand.

In the previous session, Brent futures closed at $79.00, for a fifth day of losses, while WTI futures closed at $75.44 for a fourth straight day of losses.

Today, Brent crude futures fell 26 cents, or 0.3%, to $78.74 a barrel by 0427 GMT, while WTI fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $75.21.

Markets gave back some of their recent gains amid mixed factors. The main factors include President Trump’s policies to increase drilling and the easing of geopolitical stress in Gaza, which has eased supply disruptions from major producing regions.

The broader economic impact of U.S. tariffs could further dampen global oil demand growth.

Trump has said he will add new tariffs to his threat of sanctions on Russia if there is no deal with Russia to end its war in Ukraine. He said he could impose them on other participating countries.

He also promised to impose tariffs on the European Union, Canada, and Mexico and said he was negotiating a 10% penalty tax on fentanyl shipments to China.

He also declared a national energy emergency on Monday. That aims to give him the authority to ease environmental restrictions on energy infrastructure and projects and ease permitting for new transmission and pipeline infrastructure, but some analysts are skeptical about the pace of oil production growth in the near term.

Overall, Trump’s policies are volatile, and the market will be watching closely to see how sanctions, drilling expansions, and trade policies evolve to shape the global oil landscape.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories rose by 958,000 barrels in the week ending Jan. 17, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Wednesday. Gasoline inventories rose by 3.23 million barrels and distillate inventories rose by 1.88 million barrels.

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