The price of crude oil jumped yesterday marginally following a comment by Donald Trump regarding the US’s future intervention in the ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
In addressing a journalist’s question, the President commented on the glut in the oil market by stating that the low prices of the commodity are good for the American consumer but bad for the industry.
“Well, the one thing I will tell you is that from the standpoint — you always get a little bit torn because, you know, until we became the leading producer, I was always for the person driving the car and filling up the tank of gas. And you’d have gasoline and the prices were — if they were too high, I would always raise hell with OPEC. […] And, in one way, our consumer is very much helped. It’s like — it’s like a massive tax increase. […] But, on the other hand, it hurts a great industry and a very powerful industry.”
Finally, Trump pledged to intervene in the current impasse between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the right moment, by saying:
“at the — at the appropriate time, I’ll get involved.”
Overall, the President's message came off a bit ambiguous and indecisive. He seemed to struggle with finding the right words, possibly because of not wanting to displease one of the two concerned sides.
Trump seemed to favour preserving the US’s neutral stance as a mediator between Russia and Saudi Arabia, while at the same time leaving himself an open door for possible future action.
Arguably, due to this indecisiveness at the present moment, the price of oil jumped only moderately and is so far failing to break out above the regression channel’s lower boundary.