New York - Saba:
Oil prices fell to their lowest levels in more than four years in trading on Wednesday, due to concerns about demand due to the escalating tariff war between the United States and China.
Brent crude futures fell 3.79% to $60.44 per barrel by 04:23 GMT.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 4.13% to $57.12. Both contracts touched their lowest levels since February 2021 in trading.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices have fallen for five consecutive sessions since US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on most imports, raising concerns that a global trade war could impact economic growth and hurt fuel demand.
President Donald Trump's 104% tariffs on China took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST (04:01 GMT) on Wednesday, adding a 50% increase after Beijing failed to lift its retaliatory tariffs on US goods by Trump's noon deadline on Tuesday.
Beijing has vowed not to yield to what it called US blackmail after Trump threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods if Beijing did not lift the 34% retaliatory tariffs.
Yi Lin, vice president of oil commodity markets at Rystad Energy, said, "China's aggressive response reduces the chances of a quick agreement between the world's two largest economies, raising growing fears of a global economic recession."
She added, "China's oil demand growth of 50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day is at risk if the trade war continues, but stronger stimulus to boost domestic consumption could mitigate the losses."
The oil slide was exacerbated by OPEC+'s decision last week to increase production by 411,000 barrels per day in May, a move analysts say is likely to push the market into a surplus.
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