President Donald Trump shut down a reporter on Tuesday for not knowing key information that was apparently related to a question that they were trying to ask.
“Mr. President, can I just check in on the oil again today?” Bloomberg News reporter Justin Sink asked.
“Oil?” Trump responded. “Where is it today?”
“Well, I was wondering if you–?” Sink continued.
“No, no. Where’s the price?” Trump fired back. “Give me the price.”
“Uh, I’m not sure to be honest,” Sink responded.
“How can you ask a question when you don’t know the price?” Trump fired back.
“I’ll look it up for you,” Sink said.
“OK, let me do somebody else then,” Trump responded as he then pointed at another reporter and said, “go ahead.”
WATCH:
savage pic.twitter.com/Qb63H788i2
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) April 7, 2020
The Wall Street Journal highlighted the current problem in the oil market in a report on Tuesday:
U.S. production of crude oil will fall 13% by year’s end, according to a government forecast Tuesday—numbers the White House hopes to use to convince Saudi Arabia and Russia to end their price war, a senior administration official said.
Saudi Arabia, in a dispute with Russia, has worsened a global oil glut by ramping up production at a time when demand has dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Both countries have said privately they are open to reducing production only if the U.S. also agrees to mandate cutbacks.
Trump administration officials have shunned any attempts at coordinating or even passively sanctioning output cuts from U.S. producers, considering it an intervention into private enterprise. But they are now trying to thread a diplomatic needle, potentially giving foreign rivals the signal they want, even without government mandates.
The Wall Street Journal added that the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasted that American oil companies will reduce oil production by 2 million barrels per day by the fourth quarter compared to where they were at in the first quarter.
CNBC reported on Monday:
Russia and Saudi Arabia are “very, very close” to a deal on oil production cuts, according to the chief executive of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF.
“I think the whole market understands that this deal is important and it will bring lots of stability, so much important stability to the market, and we are very close,” said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
A virtual meeting between OPEC and its allies was scheduled to happen on Monday, but is now “likely” to take place on Thursday instead, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC. Reductions in oil output were expected to be discussed at the meeting that could bring the price war in oil to an end.
Trump indicated last week that he wanted the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia to end.
“I think they both want to make a deal,” Trump said. “And they’re both smart. They love their countries. They want to make a deal. It’s good. But it’s also good for the world if they do ’cause you save an industry.”
This article has been updated with additional reporting.