US Urges Oil Producing States to Keep Output High, Limit Iran Imports

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. AFP file photo
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. AFP file photo
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US Urges Oil Producing States to Keep Output High, Limit Iran Imports

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. AFP file photo
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. AFP file photo

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry met with Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih on Monday in Washington, as the Trump administration encourages big oil-producing countries to keep output high ahead of the renewed sanctions on Iran’s crude exports.

Perry will meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Thursday in Moscow, a US source and a diplomatic source said Sunday night.

High oil prices are a risk for President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans in Nov. 6 congressional elections. 

Global oil prices have already risen sharply to more than $76 a barrel in recent weeks on concerns about sanctions on Iran's oil exports that Washington will renew on Nov. 4.

Trump withdrew the United States in May from the nuclear deal with Iran, and he is pushing consuming countries to cut their purchases of Iranian oil to zero.

It is unclear what the United States may offer big oil producers in return for higher oil production.

Saudi Arabia has been seeking a civilian nuclear agreement with the United States that could allow the kingdom to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium.

Russia wants the United States to drop sanctions on Moscow.

OPEC and non-OPEC officials will meet later this month to discuss proposals for sharing an oil output increase, after the groups decided in June to boost output moderately.

The OPEC-led deal to cut oil output would be implemented in September at the same level as in August and July, Interfax cited Novak as saying on Monday.

Meanwhile, despite differences between the US and India over calls made by Washington for the Asian country to cut its imports of Iranian oil, India has curbed buying from Iran. But South Korea has gone one step further by halting purchases before the US imposes the sanctions on Nov. 4.

Bloomberg quoted a senior State Department official as saying that talks with India will continue ahead of the Trump administration’s Nov. 4 deadline for countries to halt Iranian oil imports or face sanctions.



Trump Threatens Canada with 35 Percent Tariff Rate Starting Aug 1

US President Donald J Trump participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 July 2025.  EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
US President Donald J Trump participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 July 2025. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
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Trump Threatens Canada with 35 Percent Tariff Rate Starting Aug 1

US President Donald J Trump participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 July 2025.  EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL
US President Donald J Trump participates in a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 08 July 2025. EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ / POOL

Canada will face a 35 percent tariff on exports to the United States starting August 1, President Donald Trump said Thursday in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

It was the latest of more than 20 such letters issued by Trump since Monday, as he continues to pursue his trade war threats against dozens of economies.

Canada and the US have been locked in trade negotiations in hopes of reaching a deal by July 21, but the latest threat appeared to have shifted that deadline, AFP said.

Both Canada and Mexico are trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries -- known as the USMCA -- can be put back on track.

"Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1," Carney posted on social media platform X Thursday night.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced the previous NAFTA accord in July 2020, after Trump successfully pushed for a renegotiation during his first term in office.

It was due to be reviewed by July next year, but Trump has thrown the process into disarray by launching his trade wars after he took office in January.

Canadian and Mexican products were initially hard hit by 25 percent US tariffs, with a lower rate for Canadian energy.

Trump targeted both neighbors, saying they did not do enough on illegal immigration and the flow of illicit drugs across borders.

But he eventually announced exemptions for goods entering his country under the USMCA, covering large swaths of products.

The letter on Thursday came despite what had been warming relations between Trump and Carney, who has been faced with his counterpart's regular musings that Canada should become the 51st US state.

Reciprocity

The Canadian leader came to the White House on May 6 and had a cordial meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

They met again at the G7 summit last month in Canada, where leaders pushed Trump to back away from his punishing trade war.

Canada also agreed to rescind taxes impacting US tech firms that had prompted Trump to retaliate by calling off trade talks.

Separately, Trump announced in an interview with NBC that he was also thinking of slapping blanket tariffs of between 15 and 20 percent on August 1 on countries that had not yet received one of his letters.

The letters announce tariff rates of as much as 50 percent in the case of Brazil to kick in on August 1 unless better terms can be found before then.

Trump told NBC that the letter to the 27-country European Union, the US's biggest trading partner, would be sent "today or tomorrow (Friday)."

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Thursday that he is willing to negotiate with the United States after Trump said he would hit the country with his tough tariff.

He however reiterated that the Brazilian government is evaluating reciprocity measures.

In his letter addressed to Lula, Trump criticized the treatment of his right-wing ally Jair Bolsonaro.