Trump Threats Saudis: ‘Cut Oil Supply or Lose US Military Supply’!

The United States President Donald trump pressurized Saudi Arabia to end its oil price war with Russia. An ultimatum is given by the US president to his Saudi counterpart on a phone call on April 2nd.

Reportedly, Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman that unless the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started cutting oil production, he would be powerless to stop lawmakers from passing legislation to withdraw US troops from the kingdom.

The threat to upend a 75-year strategic alliance, which has not been previously reported, was central to the U.S. pressure campaign. It led to a landmark global deal to slash oil supply as demand collapsed in the coronavirus pandemic. It marks a scoring a diplomatic victory for the White House.

In response to the threat Saudi prince called a meeting with his aides immediately to discuss and resolve the matter. However, President Donald Trump is making efforts to save the US economy from falling apart. Because of historic oil prices meltdown, the economies are collapsing around the globe amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are defending your industry while you’re destroying ours.”

Furthermore, it also reflected a telling reversal of Trump’s longstanding criticism of the oil cartel, which he has blasted for raising energy costs for Americans with supply cuts that usually lead to higher gasoline prices. Now, Trump was asking OPEC to slash output.

A senior U.S. official told Reuters that the administration notified Saudi leaders that, without production cuts, “there would be no way to stop the U.S. Congress from imposing restrictions that could lead to a withdrawal of U.S. forces.” 

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Reuters asked Trump if he told the crown prince that the U.S. might pull forces out of Saudi Arabia, Trump said, “I didn’t have to tell him.” In an interview Wednesday evening at the White House, the president addressed a range of topics involving the pandemic

“I thought he and President Putin, Vladimir Putin, were very reasonable,” Trump said. “They knew they had a problem, and then this happened.”

Asked what he told the Crown Prince Mohammed, Trump said: “They were having a hard time making a deal. And I met telephonically with him, and we were able to reach a deal” for production cuts, Trump said.

However, there is no comment that came from the Saudi government.

“Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Russia have played an important role in the OPEC+ oil cut agreement. But without the cooperation of the 23 countries who took part in the agreement, it would not have happened.” said the Saudi official, who declined to comment on the discussions between the U.S. and Saudi leaders.

On April 12, under pressure from Trump, the world’s biggest oil-producing nations outside the United States agreed to the largest production cut ever negotiated. OPEC, Russia and other allied producers slashed production by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 10% of global output. Half that volume came from cuts of 2.5 million bpd each by Saudi Arabia and Russia, whose budgets depend on high oil-and-gas revenues.

Despite the agreement to cut a tenth of global production, oil prices continued to fall to historic lows. U.S. oil futures dropped below $0 last week as sellers paid buyers to avoid taking delivery of oil they had no place to store. Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, fell towards $15 per barrel – a level not seen since the 1999 oil price crash – from as high as $70 at the start of the year.

The deal for supply cuts could eventually boost prices. However, as governments worldwide start to open their economies and fuel demand rises with increased travel. Whatever the impact, the negotiations mark an extraordinary display of U.S. influence over global oil output.

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