Oil prices remained steady on Tuesday as markets monitored President Donald Trump’s threats of higher United States tariffs on European nations over his desire to buy Greenland.
Brent futures for March seesawed, rising earlier in the day but by 0740 GMT were down 16 cents, or 0.3%, at $63.78 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude contract for February, which expires on Tuesday, was up 14 cents, or 0.2%, at $59.58.
The more actively-traded WTI March contract fell 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $59.12.
WTI contracts did not settle on Monday due to the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
“A weaker U.S. dollar provided some support to oil and the broader commodities complex,” said ING commodities strategists on Tuesday.
A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated oil contracts cheaper for holders of other currencies.
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ING told Reuters prices have held up relatively well amid a broader risk-off move in the markets, adding that this followed the re-emergence of trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe over Trump’s Greenland demands.
Over the weekend, fears of a renewed trade war escalated after Trump said he would impose additional 10% levies from February 1 on goods imported from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Britain, rising to 25% on June 1 if no deal on Greenland was reached.
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