Oil Extends Decline as US-China Trade Tensions Flare Again

Oil sunk to the lowest since May amid a US threat to slap new tariffs on China and as tensions ease in the Middle East, while global supply surplus concerns underpinned bearish gloom.

West Texas Intermediate crude prices slumped 4.2% to settle just below $59 a barrel after US President Donald Trump said he saw “no reason” to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and threatened a “massive increase” of tariffs on goods from China. The statements revived concerns that a tariff war between the world’s two largest economies would hurt oil consumption. They also blunted appetite for risk assets, hurting equities.