The price of oil plummeted more than US$2 per barrel on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to greatly increase tariffs on Chinese imports.
The price of the benchmark West Texas Crude sank over 4 per cent to US$58.90 per barrel, while the price of Brent crude dropped almost 4 per cent to US$62.73 per barrel and western Canada select slid by about 3 per cent to US$48.68 per barrel.
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Global stock markets plunged on Friday after Trump, who is upset over new restrictions China has placed on exports of rare earth minerals, took to social media and said he’s considering “a massive increase of tariffs” on Chinese imports.
China produces over 90 per cent of the world’s rare earth minerals, which are critical for the manufacturing of everything from consumer electronics to jet engines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 878.82 points (almost 2 per cent) to 45,479.60 while the Nasdaq Composite lost 820.20 points (3.56 per cent) to close at 22,204.43 and the TSX tumbled 419.09 points (1.38 per cent) to close at 29,850.89.
The Canadian dollar traded at 71.43 cents US, unchanged from Thursday’s close.
With files from The Canadian Press and Reuters
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