President Donald Trump has said he will ask Saudi Arabia and other Opec nations to “bring down the cost of oil” and doubled-down on his threat to use tariffs.
In a speech to executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, the US president said he was “surprised” that OPEC hadn’t brought down the price of oil before the elections.
“Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue,” he said, referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and suggesting that the higher crude price was helping to sustain funding for the conflict in Moscow.
“You gotta bring down the oil price,” he said. “That will end that war. You could end that war.”
His remarks follow a conversation he had with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday.
According to Saudi state media, Bin Salman pledged to invest as much as $600bn (£484bn) in the US over the next four years. However, this figure was not mentioned in the White House statement after the call.
Despite the cordial exchange, Trump said he would be asking “the Crown Prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion”.
Saudi Arabia is the leading member of OPEC, a cartel of 12 oil-producing nations which has a remit to “work together to ensure stable oil prices”.
The price of crude fell by 1% after Trump spoke.
David Oxley, chief climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, said his comments are in keeping with the president’s desire for lower gasoline prices.
“It’s his clear intention to use energy as leverage over Russia to end the war in Ukraine. That said, lower oil prices will certainly not incentivise US oil producers to ‘drill, baby, drill’ – particularly in high-cost Alaska.
“Of course, Saudi Arabia would not be guaranteed to heed a request by President Trump to expand oil production and to bring down global oil prices.”
The US president’s appearance via video link at the World Economic Forum marked his first address to a global audience since his inauguration earlier this week.
He used the platform to insist that companies around the world manufacture their products in the US or face bruising tariffs on imported goods entering the American market.
There were a few stony faces as executives left the hall after the speech, but some were happy.
“A very powerful speech,” said one.
“I liked it, I thought it was really good,” said a delegate from the US. “A lot of it made sense, common sense. He’s just looking for fair trade.”
One Swiss executive though was pretty downbeat. “It’s nothing new but it’s clear what he wants to do,” he said.
“Am I happy? No, I’m not happy. I think it’s bad for the world.”
Trump also said he would demand an immediate drop in interest rates, which he said had led to deeper deficits and resulted in what he described as economic calamity under the tenure of his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
“This begins with confronting the economic chaos caused by the failed policies of the last administration,” he said.
“Over the past four years, our government racked up $8 trillion in wasteful deficit spending and inflicted nation-wrecking energy restrictions, crippling regulations and hidden taxes like never before.”
Interest rates are decided by the US Federal Reserve, the central bank which is independent from the government.
Trump also spoke of “good, clean, coal” to power data centres needed for artificial intelligence (AI).
Earlier this week, he announced that a number of firms, including ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, would invest $500bn to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US.
“We need double the energy we currently have in the US for AI to be as big as we want to have it,” Trump told delegates at Davos, adding that he would use emergency decrees to speed up the construction of new power plants.
“Nothing can destroy coal – not the weather, not a bomb, nothing,” he said.
“For the past 82 days, UCH has been without electricity due to unpaid bills,” Aweda told reporters.
According to him, the situation has affected the living conditions of students and their academics, making them unable to function well.
“Our demand is the immediate restoration of power to UCH and other hospitals currently facing a similar situation.
“We desire the implementation of the 50 per cent electricity tariff discount announced by the Ministry of Power in Aug. 2024 and the reform of the health sector in Nigeria.
“If UCH, the foremost healthcare hospital in Nigeria, is this bad, one can imagine what other health institutions in the country will look like,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the immediate past SU president, Tobiloba Samuel, also said they had explored consultative means with the managements of UCH and UI, which yielded nothing.
He said the union would issue an ultimatum after the peaceful protest if the relevant stakeholders still failed to act.
Samuel noted that the problem had been the new policy in the power sector, which made electricity unaffordable to both educational and health institutions.
He said they were told the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) had demanded the payment of half of the N3.78 million owed before reconnecting the hospital.
“I don’t know how they expect them to pay. We are calling on the Ministry of Education, which plays a regulatory role in the sector, to act.
“We are calling on the Federal Government and other stakeholders, not only to save UCH, but other educational and health institutions in similar situations,” Samuel said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com 
