Trump Says America Oil Executive Did Not Request Bailouts, Discussed Tariffs

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2020) US President Donald Trump in a press briefing said that American oil executives did not ask for bailouts during a meeting earlier in the White House, but they did discuss tariffs in response to the current oil crisis.

"No, they didn't ask for a bailout," Trump said on Friday. "It was more of a discussion than asking. We did discuss the concept of tariffs."

However, Trump later clarified that he is not thinking of imposing tariffs on foreign oil. He emphasized that he believes Russia and Saudi Arabia will resolve the oil price war.

On Thursday, Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil production by 10 million barrels to stabilize plummeting oil prices.

His statement came after he spoke with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman who, according to the US president, had talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the matter.

Global oil prices began to fall in January amid the coronavirus pandemic in China. The spread of the disease across the globe and the breakup of the OPEC+ oil output cut deal in early March led to a huge oil market surplus, sending prices to their lowest points in the past two decades.