Oil prices steadied in lower trading on Wednesday after falling in the previous session on concerns that new U.S. tariffs, announced at 20:00 GMT, could deepen a global trade war that could curb demand for crude.Brent futures were up 1 cent at $74.50 a barrel by 03:46 GMT after falling 0.4% on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 3 cents at $71.23, after falling 0.4%. Prices had hit a five-week high on Monday.The White House confirmed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump would impose new tariffs on Wednesday, but did not provide details on the size or scope of the trade barriers, Reuters reported.“Oil prices rose nearly 2% in March but remained steady as markets await clarity on Trump’s universal tariff plans ahead of ‘Liberation Day.’ Low trading volumes in the oil market indicate growing concerns about these tariffs, despite some positive demand signals from mainland China,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.Brent trading volume was 8,550 lots open in June at 03:53 GMT, compared with 672,617 open lots for the same month, according to ICE data on the LSEG pricing platform. For weeks, Trump has touted April 2 as “Liberation Day,” which will see new tariffs imposed that could shake up the global trading system. The White House is scheduled to make an announcement at 4:00 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT).“The (tariff) announcement could be both up and down for prices, although the balance of risks is to the downside, given that weaker-than-expected tariff measures are unlikely to lead to a significant rise in Brent, while stronger-than-expected measures could trigger a significant sell-off,” the BMI analysts said in a note.The decline was offset by Trump’s threats to impose additional tariffs on Russian oil, as well as the tightening of sanctions on Iran on Monday as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign to reduce its exports.“If the tariff pressure proves successful for Trump and allows a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, there is a scenario in which these punitive measures could be short-lived, with potentially rising tariffs on crude oil and bearish tariffs on products,” said Janiv Shah, vice president of commodity markets at Rystad Energy. “Oil prices remain muted for now, awaiting official reactions from major importing countries to the recently proposed tariffs.”U.S. oil and fuel inventories have painted a mixed picture of supply and demand in the world’s largest producer and consumer. U.S. crude inventories rose by 6 million barrels in the week ended March 28, sources said, citing the American Petroleum Institute.Meanwhile, gasoline inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels and distillate inventories by 11,000 barrels, the sources said. Official U.S. crude stockpiles data from the Energy Information Administration is due later Wednesday.
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