Economics
Trump’s Answer to the Oil Crash Could Be a Tax on Saudi Crude
- Shale titan Hamm plans to file complaint against Saudi Arabia
- U.S. administration under pressure to contain market turmoil
Donald Trump
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
If Donald Trump wanted to shield U.S. shale from oil’s crash, he could unleash a familiar weapon against rival producers such as Saudi Arabia: tariffs.
The U.S. president’s trade war with China that spawned tit-for-tat levies has shown his administration is willing to break with precedent to combat economic adversaries. Now, with Harold Hamm -- a shale industry titan and Trump confidant -- seeking to file a complaint against the Saudi plan to flood the market, the White House could take action.