Oil drops as investors fret about how trade war will affect demand
Brent falls as the latest escalation in the China-US trade dispute clouds the outlook for demand from the two countries
Beijing — Oil markets fell on Tuesday as the latest escalation in the China-US trade war clouded the outlook for crude demand from the two countries, which are the world’s top two oil consumers. Brent crude futures dropped 44c, or 0.6%, to $77.61 a barrel by 4.24am GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 28c, or 0.4%, to $68.62 a barrel. US President Donald Trump on Monday said he would impose 10% tariffs on about $200bn worth of Chinese imports. "The growing trade dispute has hurt trading sentiment. The impact on economic growth is slowly dripping in, which again hurts oil prices," Wang Xiao, head of crude research at Guotai Junan Futures, said on Tuesday. Refineries in the US consumed about 17.7-million barrels a day of crude oil last week while China’s refiners used about 11.8-million barrels a day in August, according to government data from the countries, the most among the world’s countries. The tariffs are likely to limit economic activity in both China and the U...
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