{"id":113541,"date":"2025-04-11T13:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=113541"},"modified":"2025-04-11T13:32:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T09:32:30","slug":"oil-prices-steady-but-set-for-second-weekly-loss-as-u-s-china-trade-war-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/oil-prices-steady-but-set-for-second-weekly-loss-as-u-s-china-trade-war-escalates\/04\/11\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Prices Steady but Set for Second Weekly Loss as U.S.-China Trade War Escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oil prices remained largely flat on Friday<\/strong>, yet were poised to log a second consecutive weekly loss as investors weighed the economic toll of a rapidly escalating <strong>U.S.-China trade conflict<\/strong>. Persistent fears of weakening global demand, paired with downgraded forecasts from energy authorities, have kept a lid on any price recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of <strong>08:27 GMT<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Brent crude futures<\/strong> edged down <strong>3 cents (0.05%)<\/strong> to <strong>$63.30<\/strong> per barrel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude<\/strong> rose <strong>2 cents (0.03%)<\/strong> to <strong>$60.09<\/strong> per barrel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both benchmarks have remained range-bound in recent sessions, <strong>consolidating steep losses<\/strong> from earlier in the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Brent<\/strong> is on track for a <strong>3.5% weekly drop<\/strong>, after falling <strong>11% last week<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>WTI<\/strong> is down <strong>3%<\/strong> for the week<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Brent briefly fell below <strong>$60 per barrel this week<\/strong>, its <strong>lowest level since February 2021<\/strong>, before recovering slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trade War Escalation Dampens Oil Outlook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil markets continue to be pressured by the worsening trade standoff between the world\u2019s two largest economies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On <strong>Thursday<\/strong>, U.S. President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> raised tariffs on Chinese goods to <strong>145%<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In retaliation, <strong>China announced Friday<\/strong> it would impose a <strong>125% tariff on U.S. goods starting Saturday<\/strong>, up from a previously announced 84%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>While Trump paused tariffs on <strong>dozens of other trading partners<\/strong>, the <strong>ongoing U.S.-China conflict<\/strong> remains a dominant risk to <strong>global trade flows and economic sentiment<\/strong>\u2014factors closely tied to energy demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cA prolonged dispute between the world\u2019s two biggest economies is likely to reduce global trade volumes and disrupt trading routes,\u201d analysts noted. \u201cThis will weigh on global economic growth and reduce demand for oil.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">EIA Slashes Oil Demand and Growth Forecasts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting these growing concerns, the <strong>U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)<\/strong> on Thursday <strong>cut its global economic growth outlook<\/strong> and <strong>lowered oil demand forecasts<\/strong> for both 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The EIA cited tariffs and related trade uncertainty as <strong>key downside risks<\/strong>, cautioning that prolonged economic tension could lead to a <strong>more persistent decline in oil consumption<\/strong>, particularly in emerging markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China\u2019s Growth Outlook Dims<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Adding to bearish sentiment, a <strong>Reuters poll<\/strong> showed that <strong>China\u2019s economic growth in 2025<\/strong> is likely to slow from 2024 levels, with <strong>U.S. tariffs cited as a major headwind<\/strong>. As the <strong>world\u2019s largest oil importer<\/strong>, any decline in Chinese demand poses a significant risk to global energy markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Outlook: Bearish Risks Still Dominate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With the <strong>U.S.-China tariff war intensifying<\/strong>, oil markets remain vulnerable to further downside. While the market found temporary support from technical levels and bargain buying, the broader <strong>macroeconomic backdrop remains fragile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless there is progress in trade negotiations or a sharp rebound in demand signals, <strong>crude prices may struggle to stage a meaningful recovery in the near term<\/strong>. All eyes now turn to further geopolitical developments and <strong>OPEC+ responses<\/strong>, as well as next week\u2019s macroeconomic indicators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oil prices remained largely flat on Friday, yet were poised to log a second consecutive weekly loss as investors weighed the economic toll of a rapidly escalating U.S.-China trade conflict. Persistent fears of weakening global demand, paired with downgraded forecasts from energy authorities, have kept a lid on any price recovery. As of 08:27 GMT: &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":108378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,36],"tags":[7524,6936,6858],"class_list":["post-113541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-market-updates","tag-energy","tag-oil-prices","tag-us-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113542,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113541\/revisions\/113542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}