Trump Presses OPEC To Reduce Prices

(Bloomberg) U.S. President Donald Trump resumed his criticism of OPEC, saying on Twitter that the cartel “must get prices down now!”. Trump’s fresh intervention in the oil market comes before a meeting of ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in Algeria on Sunday. His complaint follows signals from Saudi Arabia that it was content to see prices climb above $80. That’s been a red line for the White House in the past, provoking the president to direct his first social-media barb against the cartel since July 4. According to commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo, Trump’s tweet makes sense “with oil prices close to the highs of the year,” Considering the upcoming OPEC meeting in Algiers, he wants to keep the pressure on the group ahead of the mid-term elections.”