President-elect Donald Trump jeopardizes the global economy through his promises to block Middle East oil imports for the purpose of creating an energy independent United States, according to petrostate Saudi Arabia.
Over the course of the two-year American election process, Republican nominee Trump promised on the campaign trail to divest U.S. interests from "our foes and the oil cartels," referring mainly to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which the KSA is the largest producer and de facto leader.
"At his heart President-elect Trump will see the benefits and I think the oil industry will also be advising him accordingly that blocking trade in any product is not healthy," Khalid al-Falih, chairman of Aramco and Saudi Aramco Oil Minister, told the Financial Times in Marrakesh, where world leader's are currently negotiating the nuts and bolts of the landmark 2015 climate change agreement.
Saudi Arabia is the U.S.' largest Middle Eastern oil supplier, though the North American country gets most of its energy from domestic and Canadian sources.
Al-Falih added that the free trade energy culture currently in place benefits the United States because it has created a refining industry and ignited a job-hungry shale revolution. Related: Iran Surprises OPEC With A Further 250,000 Bpd Increase
"The U.S. is sort of the flag-bearer for capitalism and free markets," according to Al-Falih. "The U.S. continues to be a very important part of a global industry that is interconnected, that is dealing with a fungible commodity which is crude oil. So having equalization through free trade is very healthy for oil."
Critics of American foreign policy say the U.S.' hunger for energy played a role in encouraging the country's political entanglements in the Middle East. Reaching energy independence would supposedly free leaders from the economic risks of intervening or stepping back from conflicts in the region, according to proponents of energy independence.
Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
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Zainab Calcuttawala is an American journalist based in Morocco. She completed her undergraduate coursework at the University of Texas at Austin (Hook’em) and reports on… More
Comments
So now the inbred is a capitalist. I would not import 1 tablespoon of oil from the middle east.
The US should have an relative high import tax on energy to promote US energy independence and conservation. Which would lead to a lessor need for direct involvement of the US military in the Mideast.
Those tariffs would generate zero tax revenue so they would have zero cost to American consumers, nor increase the size of the Federal government.
In fact, by making the Persian Gulf and Africa irrelevant to American security and economic growth, the defense budget would shrink, saving Americans trillions in wasteful spending over the coming decades.
I think the US will get by fine without them, then what will the Saudi's do.
It is well worth watching the Adam Curtis documentary "Bitter Lake" - you can easily find it on youtube.
Now, if memory serves me, it was a tactic we reserved in case we needed to cut ourselves off from crude imports from the middle east. Millions of barrels of oil are in our "undisclosed" reserves.
Saudi Arabia is feeling the backlash of what some may call their direct intervention into the destruction of our infrastructure. 9/11, in other words. The legislation passed for families of victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia for their part in the financing of terrorist attacks against our society and way of life, et al, the NY trade towers has been a monumental thorn in their side.
Now, considering the backlash of all that, in conjunction with the fact that we (as a nation) have been sitting on multi-billion barrels of oil reserves, not to mention the knowledge of other unexploited deposits within our marked territories, we are well above and beyond being dependent upon these dealers of death.
They believe they can get away with murder or genocide just because they believe they own the biggest piece of the oil pie. From what I've seen and observed, this simply isn't true.
The time of chaos has been upon us for a few decades now. What is about to happen next is simply going to blow their minds because they know they have lost their leverage against us, but the real threat of financial retaliation is making them realize that Chaos is not their best friend. Chaos is about to end and that's what's got the entire planet in a craze.
Chaos has ruled for too long and now, as the prophets have foretold, that reign is about to come to an end....
You truly can't blame these giants nor fathom the domino affect at hanf- the major oil companies, including Exxon and Chevron, which have significant political influence, will resist any efforts to restrict the choice of crudes available for their refineries. We can’t blame them for resisting this and swimming against trump’s stream.
Venezuela has ten times the oil reserves of Saudi, but it is very sour oil, and heavy. However, I do believe that there are refineries in the USA that can refine Venezuela oil. (And maybe Aruba.) People in Venezuela are hungry, and the USA could trade them food for oil. Thus escaping the 'petro-dollar'. It wouldn't matter how worthless the dollar was as the USA would be bartering.
The USA and Russia together could make up the largest energy reserves on earth.
he will definitely lead the way to a better world .
he calls a spade a spade ,thats what i like about him .
true leader trump!
SA has had the unrestricted permit to take shorts or puts and then flood or restrict oil flow. They have wantonly attacked our markets destroying lives and jobs of high skilled and specialized workers. We are all a bit tired of this game. It is not free market, but it is freedom to screw the American economy and create hardships in our banking and ancillary jobs and services, stocks etc. It all trickles down to the American people as individuals.
SA is a cancer. I hope they choke on their oil.