Oil trades lower as Trump urges Opec to slash prices

The president's comments on the oil price came after he spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday. According to Saudi State media Bin Salman pledged to invest as much as 600bn in the US over the next four years, however this figure was not mentioned in the White House statement after the call. Despite the cordial exchange, Trump said he would be asking "the Crown Prince, who's a fantastic guy, to round it out to around 1tn". The price of crude fell by 1% following Trump's comments. According to David Oxley, Chief Climate and Commodities Economist at Capital Economics these comments are in keeping with Trump's desire for lower gasoline prices.