Despite progress in US-China trade, oil prices still fall

Photo caption — Pumping gas for vehicles at a gas station in Jiangsu, China. Photo: THX/TTXVN

The reason for this weakness is that the market is still skeptical about whether this is the real end to the trade war.

At 2:17 p.m. on October 30 (Vietnam time), Brent crude futures fell 0.31% to $64.72 a barrel, erasing the gains of the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also fell 0.33% to $60.28 a barrel.

Speaking after a meeting with the Chinese president, the US president said he had agreed to reduce tariffs on China from 57% to 47% in a one-year deal in exchange for a series of concessions from Beijing.

However, Ms. Vandana Hari, founder of analysis firm Vanda Insights, said that the market saw the above agreement as just a "ceasefire" and not the end of bilateral trade tensions.

A positive factor supporting the market was the US Federal Reserve (Fed) on October 29, which cut interest rates as expected. However, the Fed also implied that this could be the last cut in 2025 because the US government shutdown risks disrupting economic data releases.

The Fed's decision represents a major shift in the policy cycle as the central bank prioritizes supporting growth over curbing inflation, said Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at energy consultancy Rystad Energy. He said this is a "tailwind" for commodities sensitive to economic activity.

Another important market focus is the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and major non-OPEC producers (OPEC+) on November 2, where the alliance is likely to announce a modest supply increase of about 137,000 barrels per day for December. Since April 2025, the group has returned more than 2.7 million barrels of oil to the market each day, nearly half the total 5.85 million barrels per day cut it agreed to in previous years.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/bat-chap-tien-trien-trong-thuong-mai-mytrung-gia-dau-van-quay-dau-giam-20251030155440478.htm