Crude oil prices were steady on Friday but set for weekly declines as markets waited to see if U.S. President Donald Trump would follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada later this week.
Brent crude for March, which expires on Friday, was up 8 cents at $76.95 a barrel by 0900 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 21 cents at $72.94.
For the week, benchmarks Brent and WTI are set to fall 2% and 2.3%, respectively.
"Crude oil prices have fallen this week on growing concerns about Trump's tariffs, which are expected to hamper global economic growth," said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.
Investors are weighing the possibility of U.S. tariffs alongside a series of executive orders and policy announcements, said ANZ Bank analyst Daniel Hynes.
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs as early as Saturday on Canadian and Mexican exports to the United States if the two countries do not stop shipping fentanyl across the U.S. border.
Canada and Mexico are the two largest crude oil exporters to the United States, but it is unclear whether crude will be included in the tariffs. Trump said Thursday he would decide soon whether to exempt Canadian and Mexican oil imports from the tariffs.
In 2023, the latest full year, Canada exported 3.9 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to the U.S., for 6.5 million bpd of total imports, while Mexico exported 733,000 bpd, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.(AL)
Source: Investing.com
