Donald Trump says he doesn’t expect tariffs on oil imports

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think he’ll have to impose tariffs on imported oil to blunt the impact of a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, but held out the option to protect US oil producers.
“I would use tariffs if I have to,” he said at a White House news conference, restating his position from an earlier briefing. “I don’t think I’m going to have to.”
The US has been in talks with Russia and Saudi Arabia about cutting excess production that’s cratered global oil prices, including calls between Trump and the leaders of both nations. But despite Trump’s assertion last week the two countries would cut production by 10 million to 15 million barrels, no agreement has been reached.
“We want to save a great industry,” Trump said of the US oil industry. “If they don’t
get along, I would do that, yeah, I would do tariffs, very substantial tariffs.”
Opec+, the former alliance between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia, delayed a meeting aimed at ending the price war after fresh tension between Riyadh and Moscow over who was to blame.
The alliance will tentatively plan to meet virtually on April 9. Brent futures dropped as much as 12% on April 05.
The International Energy Agency said that the deepest production cuts in the oil
industry’s history wouldn’t
be able to steady oil markets, where demand has collapsed because of the coronavirus
outbreak.
“It was the virus that killed it,” Trump said of the industry. He also noted again that low prices have benefits to the US economy, a top oil consumer.
“I’m seeing 91 cents a gallon out on the road,” he said.
“A lot of people are happy. I see very inexpensive jet fuel, we’re trying to save the airline industry.”