Oil Prices Slip Despite Signs of Easing Tensions Between U.S., China

Investing.com – Oil prices slipped on Friday despite tensions between U.S. and China seemingly eased after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed that Chinese and U.S. officials will meet later in August to resume trade talks.

for October delivery edged down by 0.05% to $71.40 per barrel at 12:02AM ET (04:02 GMT), while for September delivery also dropped by 0.03% to $65.44 a barrel.

Brent is now set for a third consecutive weekly drop, while WTI is on track for a seventh week of losses.

In an interview with CNBC, Kudlow said that China should be aware that U.S. President Donald Trump is determined the administration gets a good deal at the first major meeting between the two countries in more than two months.

“The Chinese government, in its totality, must not underestimate President Trump’s toughness and willingness to continue this battle to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers and quotas, to stop the theft of intellectual property and to stop the forced transfer of technology,” Kudlow said. “Those are the asks that we’ve been making now for quite some time.”

Markets were worried a potential full-blown trade war between the U.S. and China would slow global economic growth and curb energy consumption, while a standoff between the U.S. and Turkey subsequently sparked fears of contagion among emerging markets.

“You would have renewed expectations for continued growth out of China, which is underpinning everyone’s assumptions. If those trade concerns go away, then the world is going to look a lot more rosy,” said Michael Loewen, commodities strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.

Oil prices were under pressure after data from the Energy Informational Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday that the U.S. crude inventory level unexpectedly hiked by 6.8 million barrels in the week ending Aug 10. Analysts previously forecasted stockpiles would fall by 2.5 million barrels.

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