The North Sea crude, a benchmark in Europe, concluded the session on the Intercontinental Exchange trading at 50 cents below the $69.21 with which it closed transactions on Monday.
Brent thus ended in decline for the second consecutive day, moving further away from the symbolic $70 threshold, as investors dismissed threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose additional sanctions on Russian oil if the Russian Federation does not agree to a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days.
On Monday, Trump expressed his intention to levy tariffs “of about 100%” on the Russian Federation and impose secondary sanctions on countries or entities that purchase oil from it.
Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at StoneX, noted in his weekly bulletin that investors ignored Trump’s threats and are “relieved that Trump has given Putin enough time to agree to a ceasefire” and has not targeted major buyers of Russian oil, such as India and China.
“They are also getting used to Trump’s threats of tariffs, to change his mind at the last minute and extend deadlines. In other words, investors did not take Trump’s threats seriously,” he emphasized.
The uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff policy, with its advances and retreats, caused significant fluctuations in crude oil prices last week, after he extended the deadline to conclude negotiations with major trading partners, such as the European Union, until August 1.
