Oil falls on trade fears after Trump’s tariff threat

TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Wednesday, with Brent dropping by more than $1 at one point, after US President Donald Trump threatened to levy new trade tariffs on China. The spectre of tariffs on a further $200 billion worth of Chinese goods sent commodities lower along with stock markets, as trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies intensified. Brent crude futures were down 65 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $78.21 a barrel by 0627 GMT, having fallen to as low as $77.60. U.S. crude was down 43 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $73.68. “The trade concerns have bitten today and the reason is that this is above and beyond what the market was expecting,” said Michael McCarthy, chief markets strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “Although there is a long deadline on this, if these tariffs are introduced there will be an impact on global growth and demand,” McCarthy said. The bearish mood was also fuelled by news the United States would consider requests for waivers from sanctions due to snap back into place on Iranian crude exports.