While American President Donald Trump is expected at the White House next January, the world is already getting into battle order. In Europe, we say we want to stand together in the face of threats of having customs duties of around 10% imposed.
The markets, particularly those of hydrocarbons, are also starting to falter. In question, fears of an open economic war between China and the Trump government. As a result, the markets opened sharply lower. For example, North Sea Brent lost 1.61%, to settle at $74.41. West Texas Intermediate, for its part, suffered a disappointment of 1.88%, to 72.25 dollars per barrel.
The price of crude oil is plummeting
Such a fall can be explained quite simply. Indeed, China is the main exporter of goods to the United States. This represents between 400 and 500 billion dollars per year. However, just like the European Union, China is not exempt from being assigned additional customs duties from the start of the 2025 school year. Donald Trump would consider adding up to 60% more taxes on certain products!
Such an increase could be extremely costly for China. Indeed, some analysts even go so far as to assert that if Trump were to react in this way, then 2 points of Chinese GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could go up in smoke and therefore considerably slow down the meteoric growth of the Asian giant. However, when China does badly, it is the rest of the world that suffers.
Fear of a Sino-American economic war
At the same time, the prevailing uncertainty makes it quite difficult to predict anything. For some experts, barrel prices could also start to rise again if the Trump administration attacks Iran or Venezuela, even more harshly than the previous administration. The decisions of the next head of state will therefore be particularly scrutinized.
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