Oil Prices Jump on Trump India Tariffs

Oil prices edged up about 1% on Wednesday after falling to a five-week low in the prior session after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed higher tariffs on India for buying Russian crude and a larger-than-expected U.S. crude storage draw last week. Brent crude futures rose 62 cents, or 0.92%, to $68.26 U.S. a barrel late morning Wednesday while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 62 cents, or 0.95%, to $65.78. On Tuesday, both crude benchmarks fell for a fourth session in a row, with Brent closing at its lowest since July 1. Trump 's executive order on Wednesday imposed an additional 25% tariff on goods from India, saying it directly or indirectly imported Russian oil. India, along with China, is a major buyer of Russian oil. That announcement came despite comments from a Kremlin aid earlier on Wednesday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff held “useful and constructive” talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Russia was the world’s second-biggest producer of crude oil in 2024 behind the U.S., according to U.S. federal energy data. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the U.S. rise. Oil markets also found support from a bigger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 3.0 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended August 1. That was much bigger than the 0.6-million barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll but was smaller than the 4.2-million-barrel decline market sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group cited in its figures on Tuesday.