By Laila Kearney
(Reuters) – Oil prices dipped slightly on Tuesday as worries about the impact of a trade war on global growth outweighed concerns about a hit to supply from threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose secondary tariffs on Russian crude and bomb Iran.
Brent futures shed 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $74.67 a barrel at 0013 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 11 cents, or 0.1%, to settle to $71.37, after climbing to five-week highs a day earlier.
A Reuters poll of 49 economists and analysts in March projected that oil prices would remain under pressure this year from U.S. tariffs and economic slowdowns in India and China, while OPEC+ increases supply.
Slower global growth would dent fuel demand, which might offset any reduction in supply due to Trump’s threats to bomb Iran and impose secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil.
After news of Trump’s threats initially boosted prices on Monday, traders told Reuters they viewed the president’s warnings to Russia, at least, as a bluff.
Trump, on Sunday, told NBC News that he was very angry with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would impose secondary tariffs of 25% to 50% on Russian oil buyers Moscow tries to block efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Tariffs on buyers of oil from Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, would disrupt global supply and hurt Moscow’s biggest customers, China and India.
Trump also threatened Iran with similar tariffs and bombings if Tehran did not reach an agreement with the White House over its nuclear program.
The market will be watching out for weekly inventory data from U.S. industry group the American Petroleum Institute due to be release on Tuesday ahead of official statistics from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. [API/S]
Five analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated on average that U.S. crude inventories fell by about 2.1 million barrels in the week to March 28.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)
