Oil set for third straight weekly drop on tariff fears

(Reuters) – Oil prices rose marginally in early Asian trade on Friday but were on track for a third straight week of decline, hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed trade war on China and threats of tariff hikes on other countries.

Brent crude futures rose 15 cents to $74.44 a barrel by 0150 GMT and were poised to fall 3.2% this week, their steepest drop since September 2024.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 9 cents at $71.70 a barrel, down 2.7% on a weekly basis.

It would be first time in five months that there have been three straight weeks of decline.

“Downside pressure has stemmed from the news flow around tariffs, with concerns over a potential trade war fuelling fears of weakening oil demand,” analysts at BMI said in a note on Friday.

Over the weekend, Trump announced a 10% tariff on Chinese imports as part of a broad plan to improve the U.S. trade balance but suspended plans to impose steep tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

“This has eclipsed US President Trump’s February 4 executive order reimposing his maximum pressure campaign on Iran, including a commitment to drive the country’s oil exports down to zero, from above 1.5 million barrels per day currently,” BMI analysts said.

Oil prices settled lower on Thursday after Trump repeated a pledge to raise U.S. oil production, unnerving traders a day after the country reported a much bigger-than-anticipated jump in crude stockpiles.

The benchmarks were also under pressure from swelling U.S. crude inventories.

Global benchmark Brent crude has tumbled more than 8% since Trump took office on January 20, while WTI has dropped over 7%.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)