Trump Demands Lower Oil Prices From OPEC 'Monopoly'

US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the OPEC group of mostly Gulf oil producers of monopolizing oil trade and demanded that it stop pushing up crude prices.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2018) US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the OPEC group of mostly Gulf oil producers of monopolizing oil trade and demanded that it stop pushing up crude prices.

"We protect the countries of the middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember.

The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" he tweeted.

This comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is gearing up for a ministerial-level meeting this Sunday to assess the oil market and agree a path for future cooperation past 2018. Iran, which will be hit with US curbs on oil sales this fall, will send a delegate.