President Donald Trump doubled down on his threat of tariffs, saying he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to “lower oil prices.”
In a speech to executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, the US president said he was “surprised” OPEC had not lowered oil prices before the election.
“Prices are high enough at the moment that the war will continue,” he said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine war, suggesting that high oil prices are helping to keep Moscow financing the conflict. did.
“Oil prices have to come down. Then the war will end. We can end the war,” he added.
The president’s comments on oil prices came after a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday. According to Saudi state media, bin Salman has pledged to invest up to $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, although the White House statement after the call did not mention this figure.
Despite the heartwarming exchange, President Trump said, “I will ask the Crown Prince, who is a wonderful man, to bring the total amount to about $1 trillion.”
Oil prices fell 1% following Trump’s remarks.
Those comments are consistent with President Trump’s desire to lower gas prices, said David Oxley, chief climate and commodity economist at Capital Economics.
“(It’s) his clear intention to use energy as leverage against Russia to end the war in Ukraine. That said, falling oil prices, especially in high-cost Alaska, have made it difficult for U.S. oil producers to It’s definitely not going to encourage you to “drill, baby, dig.” ”
“Of course, there is no guarantee that Saudi Arabia will heed President Trump’s calls to increase oil production and lower global oil prices.”
The US president’s video appearance at the World Economic Forum was his first address to a global audience since taking office earlier this week.
He used the platform to argue that if companies around the world don’t manufacture their products in the U.S., they will face hefty tariffs on imported goods entering the U.S. market.
BBC correspondent Oliver Smith, who was in the room with the delegates while the president gave his speech, said there were “some hard faces” as executives left the venue after the speech, but some were happy. He said there were some faces like that.
One person said, “It was a very powerful speech.”
“I liked it. I thought it was really good,” said another delegate from the United States.
“A lot of it makes sense. It’s common sense. He just wants fair trade,” he added.
However, one Swiss executive was quite depressed. “It’s not new, but it’s clear what he wants to do,” he said.
“Am I happy? No, I’m not happy. I think that’s bad for the world,” he added
Trump also said he would demand an immediate reduction in interest rates, which he said led to widening budget deficits and resulted in what he described as an economic disaster during his predecessor, President Joe Biden’s tenure.
“This starts by confronting the economic turmoil caused by the failed policies of the previous administration,” he said.
“Over the past four years, our government has racked up $8 trillion in wasteful deficit spending, imposing nationally crippling energy restrictions, crippling regulations, and unprecedented hidden taxes.”
Trump also talked about “good, clean coal” to power data centers needed for artificial intelligence. “To make AI as big as we want it to be, we need twice as much energy as we currently have in the United States,” he said, adding that he would use emergency legislation to accelerate construction of new power plants.
“Nothing can destroy coal. Not the weather, not bombs, nothing,” Trump said.
