Trump urges OPEC to lower oil prices for Ukraine conflict to end
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that lower oil prices could help end the Ukraine conflict immediately.
During his address to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, via teleconference, Trump said he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down global oil prices.
“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately,” he said, adding that “Right now, the price is high enough that the war will continue.”
The US president also told the forum that he “really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended.”
Trump repeatedly stated during his campaign that he would end the fighting within 24 hours if returned to the White House. However, since returning to office he has only issued a thinly-veiled ultimatum to Russia, on Wednesday, urging Moscow to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end and strike a “deal,” or face new sanctions and high import tariffs.
Trump also confirmed media reports that Saudi Arabia will be investing “at least $600 billion in America,” adding that he would be asking the Crown Prince, “who’s a fantastic guy,” to round this out to about $1 trillion.
“I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” the US leader stated.
In November, the Financial Times reported that Trump had pledged to lift restrictions on US energy producers, in a bid to lower prices and boost domestic production. The Republican, who campaigned under the slogan “Drill, baby, drill,” has previously stated that the US has “more liquid gold than any country in the world, more than Saudi Arabia.”
