Daily Times

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman had agreed to his request to increase oil production “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” to offset production from Iran and Venezuela.

Saudi authorities had no immediate comment.

The world’s top oil exporter plans to pump as much as 11 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in July, an oil industry source told Reuters this week, after OPEC agreed with Russia and other oil producers to raise output by about 1 million bpd.

Trump tweeted: “Just spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and explained to him that, because of the turmoil & disfunction in Iran and Venezuela, I am asking that Saudi Arabia increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels, to make up the difference … Prices to high! He has agreed!”

The Trump administration is pushing countries to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November when the United States re-imposes sanctions against Tehran, after Trump withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal agreed between Iran and six major powers, calling it a “defective” agreement.

That agreement sought to curb Tehran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. Trump ordered the re-imposition of US sanctions against Iran that were suspended under the accord.

US officials are pressing allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to adhere to the sanctions, which are aimed at pressuring Iran to negotiate a follow-up agreement to halt its nuclear programs.

State Department officials said this week the United States is prepared to work with countries on a case-by-case basis to help them reduce imports of Iranian oil.

China, the world’s top crude oil buyer, imported around 655,000 barrels a day on average from Iran in the first quarter of this year, according to official Chinese customs data, equivalent to more than a quarter of Iran’s total exports.

Oil analysts said OPEC producers may not be able to fully supply the market if Iranian oil is cut from the market.

Auto tariff probe

President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration’s investigation into whether to increase tariffs on cars from the European Union and other trading partners would be completed in three to four weeks.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled from Washington to New Jersey, Trump also said the United States has been treated very badly by the World Trade Organization but he is not considering withdrawing from it at this point.

Asked when the probe would be concluded, he said: “Very soon. It’ll be done in three, four weeks.”

Trump ordered the “Section 232” national security probe into autos on May 23, and his unusually fast timeline calls for it to be possibly completed in just over two months. Similar national security probes ordered last year that led to import tariffs of 25 percent steel and 10 percent on aluminum, took about 10 months to complete.

By law, the Commerce Department has 270 days to offer recommendations to the president after a Section 232 probe starts. The president then has 90 days to act upon those recommendations.

Written comments from interested parties in the autos probe were due on Friday, and the administration has scheduled a public hearing for July 19-20.

Published in Daily Times, July 1^st 2018.