Trump’s Thirst for Cheap Oil Irks an Industry He Loves to Praise

Four months after Trump’s inauguration, producers are cutting crews, mothballing rigs and reining in spending as they grapple with rising costs and lower revenue because of the oil price plunge.Photographer: Anthony Prieto/Bloomberg

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May 11, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC

Terrel Hardin was at a diner along Route 66 in western Oklahoma when his phone rang with bad news: The engine on one of his oil rigs had broken. In times past it would be a straightforward $6,000 fix, but President Donald Trump’s trade war has upended supply chains, and he wasn’t sure the part would even be available.

Tariffs and uncertainty over equipment deliveries mean what was once routine for Hardin’s King Well Service Inc. is now a source of anxiety. It’s made all the worse by plunging crude prices, triggered in part by the trade disputes, that threaten to slow drilling of new wells.