Oil prices saw a fairly big jump this Friday, after President Donald Trump seemed to put more attention back on the long-running, almost-stuck conflict with Iran. It all happened not long after he wrapped up his diplomatic summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, and you could feel the market reacting right away.
Brent crude futures, the main global benchmark, for July rose by more than 3% and finished the day at $109.26 per barrel. At the same time, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for June jumped, gaining over 4%, and they settled at $105.42 a barrel.
Tensions with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz
During a recent interview that was broadcast on Fox News, President Trump said, pretty plainly, that he is losing patience with Iran and that they should “make a deal”, as he put it. White House officials have been watching the geopolitical scene in the Middle East pretty closely, especially anything related to maritime security and movement.
One big knot in all of this is still the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also brought up that President Xi seems unhappy with Iran, particularly over the charges or tolls that ships pay when they cross that narrow but critical route. Then, the U.S. President added that Xi supposedly agreed to pause the transfer of military equipment to Iran.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later expanded on the issue in an interview with CNBC. Speaking for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bessent claimed that China will be working quietly in the background to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that it’s strongly aligned with Beijing’s own interest to get the standoff or blockage resolved.
Diplomatic Stances and Energy Trade Agreements
Despite what the U.S. claims, Beijing has not really raised the Strait of Hormuz in its official summit remarks, at least not publicly. On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China said, “the use of force is a dead end,” and urged calm, peaceful talks rather than escalation in the ongoing crisis.
A ministry spokesperson went on to note that carrying on the hostilities just does not help anyone, and they called for a quick settlement so that the U.S., Iran, and the wider international community can all benefit.
As for energy, Trump said China has agreed to step up its purchases of U.S. oil. He added that Chinese ships would soon start heading to ports in Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska to get American crude. Still, Chinese officials have not, so far, verified these energy arrangements, so the timing for the oil buying remains a bit fuzzy and hard to pin down.
