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Donald Trump called on Opec to lower global oil prices and insisted that central banks around the world cut interest rates “immediately” afterwards.
In a speech to Davos officials on Thursday, the US president urged Saudi Arabia and other producers to lower the cost of crude oil, expressing disappointment that they have not yet done so.
“I will ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower the price of oil. You have to take it down. Which I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election,” Trump said.
“Now the price is so high that the war will continue,” he said, referring to Russia’s full scale. invasion of Ukraine and suggested that high oil prices were helping to sustain Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
“You have to lower the price of oil, it will end the war. You can end the war,” he added.
Trump said that when the inflation rate drops, he “will want interest rates to come down immediately. And in the same way, they should come down all over the world. Interest rates should follow us.”
The appearance of the president of the United States on video World Economic Forum marked his first speech to a global audience since his inauguration earlier this week.
He used that speech to insist that companies around the world manufacture their products in the US – or face higher tariffs on imports entering the US market.
Trump spoke about his economic plan to end strong regulation and his plan to implement “the biggest tax cut in American history”, calling it a “change in common sense”.
His comments on oil prices come after he spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday. During the interview, Bin Salman pledged to invest $600bn in the US over the next four years.
But on Thursday, Trump said he would ask “the Crown Prince, who is a wonderful man, to raise it to $1tn”.
Brent crude fell 1 percent after Trump’s comments, above $78 a barrel. A prolonged drop in oil prices could hurt Riyadh’s ability to support more investment in the US and could make it harder for American workers to increase crude oil supplies as quickly as Trump wants.
The US president also suggested “good, clean, coal” in the data centers needed for artificial intelligence. “We need two powers that we have now in the US, for AI to be as big as we want it to be,” Trump said, adding that he would use emergency legislation to speed up construction of the plants. new electric.
“Nothing can destroy coal – not weather, not a bomb, nothing,” he said. The share price of Peabody, America’s largest coal company, rose 4 percent on those words.
Trump also spoke positively about his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, blaming his predecessor Joe Biden for the damaged relationship between Washington and Beijing and expressed hope that China could help end the conflict in Ukraine.
“All we want is fairness,” Trump said, adding that he wanted a level playing field with China. As things stood, the relationship was “unfair” he added.
Trump also criticized the EU, describing the sanctions imposed by Brussels against US technology companies for violating competition laws as “a kind of tax”.
“They’re American companies and they shouldn’t be doing that as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said. “It is a form of tax. We have very big complaints with the EU. ”
On Tuesday, the FT reported that Trump threatened double taxation for foreigners and US companies in return for “discriminatory” tariffs on American citizens.
