President Donald Trump said on Sunday if the oil price stays as it is, he will impose "very substantial tariffs".
"If the oil price stays the way it is … I would do tariffs, very substantial tariffs, because we are independent now we have our own oil, and if I did the tariffs, we essentially would be saying we don't want foreign oil … and that would help save an industry", Trump said at the Sunday White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing.
On Saturday, Trump said that he "couldn't care less about the OPEC [the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries]", adding that the organisation was destroying itself.
Oil prices started to fall after members of OPEC+ failed to agree on an extension of a deal to limit oil production in April. Restrictions were lifted as the previous deal expired at the end of March, leading to a collapse in the market, in conjunction with a global drop in demand due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
