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More Talks Needed to Resume Iraq's Northern Oil Exports

A worker performs checks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A worker performs checks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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More Talks Needed to Resume Iraq's Northern Oil Exports

A worker performs checks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A worker performs checks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Further talks will be needed in order to resume Iraq's northern oil exports, two officials told Reuters today following a meeting between a Turkish energy technical delegation and Iraqi oil officials in Baghdad on Monday.

"We are discussing all technical aspects regarding the restarting of oil exports. A decision to resume flows will not happen today and more meetings are expected," an oil official familiar with the meeting said on condition of anonymity.

Türkiye halted Iraq's 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of northern exports through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Türkiye wants to negotiate the size of damages it was ordered to pay in the arbitration ruling and also seeks clarification on other open arbitration cases, said another oil official.

Türkiye’s decision to suspend exports followed an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which ordered Türkiye to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized exports by the KRG between 2014 and 2018, Reuters said.

"A decision to restart oil flow needs political talks on higher levels. Issues blocking the resumption of oil exports are more political than technical," said a second oil official.

Attempts to restart the pipeline were delayed by Türkiye’s presidential elections last month and discussions between state-owned marketer SOMO and the KRG over an export deal, which has now been reached.

Hopes of a restart increased when Türkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan named Alparslan Bayraktar as energy minister on June 3 as part of his cabinet for his new five-year term.

Reuters estimates that the Iraqi Kurdish region has lost more than $2.2 billion over the 87 days of the pipeline outage, based on exports of 375,000 barrels per day and the KRG's historical discount against Brent crude.

Baghdad has now approved its 2023 budget, in which the Kurdistan region will receive 12.67% of the 198.9 trillion-dinar ($153 billion) allocation.

But the region needs to hand its oil to state-owned marketer SOMO in order to receive its allocation and the pipeline halt has shut in almost of its oil output.

The KRG has been dependent on financial transfers from Baghdad, which have so far reached around 1.6 trillion Iraqi dinars ($1.22 billion), according to four Iraqi government officials.

US congress members have urged US secretary of state Antony Blinken to continue pressing Türkiye and Iraq to resume oil exports, according to a letter dated June 15 seen by Reuters.

The letter states that the pipeline halt has cut off the Kurdistan region from over 80% of its revenue, raising concerns over the region's economic stability and the risk of a "significant humanitarian crisis."

"With global supplies of oil and gas facing a continuing threat from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it's more important than ever to have harmony within Iraq's oil sector," the letter signed by Michael Waltz, Don Bacon and Seth Moulton said.

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China Hits Back at US and Will Raise Tariffs on American Goods from 84% to 125%

An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
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China Hits Back at US and Will Raise Tariffs on American Goods from 84% to 125%

An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
An electronic board shows Shanghai and Shenzhen stock indices as people walk on a pedestrian bridge at the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai, China April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura

China announced Friday that it will raise tariffs on US goods from 84% to 125% — the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies that has rattled markets and raised fears of a global slowdown.

While US President Donald Trump paused import taxes this week for other countries, he raised tariffs on China and they now total 145%. China has denounced the policy as “economic bullying" and promised countermeasures. The new tariffs begin Saturday.

Washington's repeated raising of tariffs “will become a joke in the history of the world economy,” a Chinese Finance Ministry spokesman said in a statement announcing the new tariffs. “However, if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on China’s interests, China will resolutely counter and fight to the end.”

China’s Commerce Ministry said it would file another lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the US tariffs.

“There are no winners in a tariff war,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to a readout from state broadcaster CCTV. “For more than 70 years, China has always relied on itself ... and hard work for development, never relying on favors from anyone, and not fearing any unreasonable suppression.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday said China stands firm against Trump’s tariffs not only to defend its own rights and interests but also to “safeguard the common interests of the international community to ensure that humanity is not dragged back into a jungle world where might makes right.”

Wang made the remarks when he met Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Beijing. Wang said China will “work together with other countries to jointly resist all retrogressive actions in the world.”

Trump's on-again, off-again measures have caused alarm in stock and bond markets and led some to warn that the US could be headed for a recession. There was some relief when Trump paused the tariffs for most countries — but concerns remain since the US and China are the world's No. 1 and No. 2 economies, respectively.

“The risk that this escalating trade war tips the world into a recession is rising as the two largest and most powerful countries in the world continue to punch back with higher and higher tariffs,” Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital markets, wrote Friday. “No one truly knows when this will end.”

Chinese tariffs will affect goods like soybeans, aircrafts and their parts and drugs — all among the country's major imports from the US Beijing, meanwhile, suspended sorghum, poultry and bonemeal imports from some American companies last week, and put more export controls on rare earth minerals, critical for various technologies.

The United States' top imports from China, meanwhile, include electronics, like computers and cell phones, industrial equipment and toys — and consumers and businesses are likely to see prices rise on those products, with tariffs now at 145%.

Trump announced on Wednesday that China would face 125% tariffs, but he did not include a 20% tariff on China tied to its role in fentanyl production.

White House officials hope the import taxes will create more manufacturing jobs by bringing production back to the United States — a politically risky trade-off that could take years to materialize, if at all.