Trump’s 10 Million Barrel Tweet Is Performance Art
The president, Russia and Saudi Arabia all gain from pretending to have power over an oil market already out of control.
President Donald Trump and his friend, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Look, we all know basing anything on a tweet from President Donald Trump is a fraught exercise. But oil prices jumped as much as 24% on the back of this on Thursday, so needs must:
Get the obvious out of the way. “I expect & hope,” “maybe,” and “if it happens” are not caveats to be ignored, especially coming from the president who oh-so-recently said coronavirus would disappear “like a miracle.” Initial reports from Saudi Arabia and Russia certainly came across a little more tempered about what had (or hadn’t) been agreed. We can assume that the tweet’s “10 Million Barrels” (and subsequent “15 Million”) figure is probably supposed to be 10-15 million barrels a day, although one can’t entirely rule out the possibility of MBS (Crown Prince) simply throwing out a large-sounding number and then saying “sorry DJT (President), you’re breaking up; try lat-”.