Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as investors weighed the impact of potential U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports while largely shrugging off an increase in U.S. weekly crude inventory.
Brent crude futures fell 2 cents to $77.47 a barrel by 0132 GMT, while U.S. crude futures were at $73.81 a barrel, up 4 cents, or 0.1%.
Benchmarks fell to multi-week lows early this week as news of surging interest in Chinese startup DeepSeek’s low-cost artificial intelligence (AI) model prompted concerns over energy demand to power data centres, rattling the overall energy sector, while weak economic data from China further soured the demand outlook.
The White House said on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump still plans to issue 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Saturday while weighing fresh tariffs on China.
Trump did not immediately impose tariffs on Monday as previously promised but said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 over illegal immigrants and fentanyl crossing into the U.S.
