He made these comments during a large -scale speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He also promised his audience for tax reductions if they relocated their production in the United States – and threatened to impose customs duties if they did not.
“I will also ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce the price of oil. You should reduce it, “said Trump, who was speaking by videoconferencing from the White House.
“Which, frankly, surprises me that they did not do it before the elections. It does not show much love by not doing it. ”
Trump said that he would demand that interest rates drop if oil prices will decrease.
The president’s speech took place on the third full day of his return to power. Trump has signed a series of decrees this week, quickly tracing a new path for the United States.
The president campaigned on the energy domination of the United States and signed an executive decree earlier this week declaring an energy “emergency”, as part of his plan to reduce regulatory obstacles.
Sector experts, however, said that its comments on Thursday contradicted its promise to increase oil production in the United States while reducing inflation for American consumers.
“The United States Energy Domination Program is in contradiction with the motto:” OPEC, lower your oil prices, “said Heather Exner-Pirot, adviser to the Canadian Business Council.
If the members of the OPEC+ Alliance decide to increase production, this will lower prices, she explained. Lower prices would move the American offer, which is much more expensive to produce.
American producers are now close to the profitability threshold with $ 70 oil per barrel. They would like prices to increase if they want to increase boreholes.
“There is no consistency or uniformity in what he says in the oil markets,” said Ms. Exner-Pirot, who is also director of energy, natural resources and the environment at the Institute Macdonald-Laurier in Ottawa.
Trump attacks Canada
Trump also threatened to impose customs duties of 25 % on Canadian imports. He repeated in his Thursday speech that the United States did not need Canadian energy.
“Canada has been very difficult to manage over the years,” he said.
However, around 60 % of US imports of crude oil comes from Canada. This means that almost a quarter of oil that the United States consumes northern border every day.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answered Trump’s words to Ottawa on Thursday, indicating that the “golden age” in the United States promised by the American president cannot be reached without Canada.
-“To succeed in having an economic boom, they will need more energy, more minerals, including critical minerals. They will need more things than Canada is currently sending them, “said Trudeau.
He added that, if Mr. Trump really imposes these customs prices, Canada will be ready to respond, and that this measure will increase the cost of living for American citizens.
Contradictory remarks
Rory Johnston, researcher in the Toronto-based petroleum market and founder of Commodity Context, said on social networks that Trump wanted to “make raw materials of American refineries-and pump prices in the United States-more expensive via Customs duties on Canadian crude ”.
“While reducing the value of American oil production by encouraging OPEC+ to produce more,” he added. It’s … a choice. “
Ms. Exner-Pirot said he had a theory on the inspiration of Mr. Trump’s comments on OPEC. She mentioned that American oil producers may have warned the president that they cannot increase production as he promised.
The president also had a telephone call with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salmane earlier Thursday. Trump said he was informed during the appeal that the Kingdom wishes to invest $ 600 billion in the United States.
Trump supported the Davos audience that he would make this sum increased to $ 1,000 billion.
Ms. Exner-Pirot said she suspected Mr. Trump to “say things according to her mood in the past 24 hours”.
Invited to react to Mr. Trump’s assertion that the United States does not need Canadian oil, the spokesperson for the Prime Minister of Alberta, Danielle Smith, Sam Blackett, argued that the Message from the Prime Minister “has not changed”.
“An American customs tariff will harm American and Canadian consumers, and we should focus on the development of our trade relations by diplomacy, not by threats,” he added.
Carlo Dade, director of commerce and commercial infrastructure at Canada West Foundation, said the drop in oil prices requested by Trump could reduce revenues from several Canadian provinces.
Mr. Dade agreed that Mr. Trump’s words and objectives were contradictory, adding that this would pose a permanent challenge to Canadian officials who try to sail in the bilateral relationship in the midst of threats of customs prices and a revision in of the Canada-US-Mexico agreement.
“How to make political decisions when you receive tweets or political ads that contradict each other?” This is the dilemma that arises in the future and that is why it is so difficult to deal with Mr. Trump, “said Dade.
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