OPEC rejected Trump's proposal to lower oil prices.

The oil cartel countries OPEC+ did not heed Donald Trump's call to quickly lower oil prices and maintained the agreement to limit production until the end of the current quarter.

At the same time, Trump's imposition of tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico led to an increase in oil prices, according to Bloomberg.

The cartel's committee decided to keep the current oil production policy unchanged, OPEC announced in a press release. The production quotas, which were reduced over two years ago, remain at their current levels, as does the plan agreed upon in December for monthly increases from April through the end of 2026.

According to delegates, the issue of Trump’s call to increase oil supply was not discussed, the agency reported.

Trump campaigned under the slogan “Drill, baby, drill,” which he reiterated in his inaugural address.

Just three days after taking office, Trump, speaking via video link at the World Economic Forum in Davos, once again announced his intention to lower oil prices and called on OPEC countries to do so:

“I am going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce the price of oil. It needs to come down. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't do it before the U.S. election.”

According to Trump, once oil prices decrease, central banks around the world will immediately lower interest rates.

He also links the high price of oil to Russia's war against Ukraine:

“The price is currently high enough for this war to continue. We need to reduce the price of oil, and that will stop the war... It is irresponsible that this has not been done yet. We will lower oil prices, and Russia will immediately stop the war with Ukraine,” he stated.

Vandana Hari, founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights, told Bloomberg:

“I do not expect OPEC+ to heed Trump’s demands or requests, whatever you call them. OPEC+ develops its supply strategy very carefully, finely tuning it to the market situation,” she said.

Last year, to support oil prices, the alliance of oil-producing countries postponed the implementation of its production increase plan three times. Now, it plans to increase production by 120,000 barrels per day starting in April, aiming to bring a total of 2.1 million barrels back to the market by the end of the year.

Background. For more on whether OPEC will agree to Trump's demands, we wrote in the article “Cheap oil to end the war: how viable are Trump's plans.”