Oil prices fall, touch one-month low

Oil prices fell on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would sharply raise tariffs on Chinese goods, risking derailment of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies, which renewed worries about global oil demand. Brent crude futures fell 16 cents to $70.69 a barrel by 11:12 a.m. EDT (1512 GMT).

The global benchmark earlier sank to $68.79 a barrel, the lowest since April 2. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 29 cents to $61.65 a barrel. WTI’s session low was $60.04 a barrel, the weakest since March 29. On Sunday, Trump said on Twitter that tariffs on $200 billion of goods would increase on Friday to 25 percent from 10 percent, reversing his February decision to keep them at 10 percent due to progress in trade talks.

Early Monday, Trump appeared to defend his Sunday statement, citing the trade deficit between the United States and China. “Sorry, we’re not going to be doing that anymore!” he tweeted. US stock indexes fell on Monday, tracked by oil futures. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing on Monday that a Chinese delegation was still preparing to go to the United States for trade talks.