Oil inches up on tighter supply risks

US President Donald Trump has announced new import taxes of 25% on importing cars and car parts in a move that threatens to widen the global trade war.

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as markets weighed the impact of newly announced US tariffs on countries that buy Venezuelan oil and the uncertain outlook for global demand.

US President Donald Trump announced Monday steep tariffs on imports from countries buying Venezuelan oil and gas, a punitive measure that could hit China and India, among others, and sow fresh global trade uncertainty.

Oil prices dropped on Monday as investors assessed the outlook for ceasefire talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, which could lead to an increase in Russian oil to global markets.

US President Donald Trump urged the Federal Reserve on Wednesday to cut interest rates to help offset effects of his tariffs, renewing his vocal disagreement with the central bank`s decision-making.

Most Asian share markets jumped Thursday after US Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell suggested any increase in consumer prices caused by tariffs would likely be short-lived, even as the central bank slashed its growth outlook and hiked inflation expectations.

The Turkish lira plunged to an all-time low against the US dollar on Wednesday, after police raided the home of Istanbul`s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a U.S. hedge fund permission to buy securities in Russian companies from certain foreign stakeholders and authorised their future sale to two Russian funds, a presidential decree showed on Monday.

Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday, supported by instability in the Middle East as well as Chinese plans for more economic stimulus, though global growth concerns, U.S. tariffs and uncertainty over Ukraine ceasefire talks curbed gains.

Oil prices jumped earlier on Monday after the United States vowed to keep attacking Yemen`s Houthis until the Iran-aligned group ends its assaults on shipping.

Investors are turning to sanctions-proof bets on Russian bonds and the rouble to wager that Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Vladimir Putin will send a wave of capital rushing back into Russia’s economy.

US President Donald Trump has signed an order to strip back federally funded news organisation Voice of America (VOA), accusing it of being ‘anti-Trump’ and ‘radical’.

The United States is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The United States has averted a government shutdown after the Senate passed a Republican-led measure to keep the government funded for the next six months.

The creation of a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" in the United States is further proof of US President Donald Trump`s support for the cryptocurrency sector.

Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies meet in Canada on Thursday after seven weeks of rising tensions between U.S. allies and President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs.