Asia is caught in the crossfire of erratic U.S. energy policy

A cocktail of sanctions and trade wars portends turbulent oil markets

Vandana Hari

February 18, 2025 05:05 JST

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The Trump administration's 10% and 25% import tariffs respectively against Canadian and Mexican oil imports, which were suspended within 48 hours of being announced, whiplashed financial markets. © Reuters

Vandana Hari is founder of Vanda Insights, a Singapore-based global energy market intelligence provider.

Global oil markets have had a tumultuous start to 2025. Aggressive new U.S. sanctions against Russian oil, trade battles with Canada and Mexico and a renewed tit-for-tat tariff war with China have rattled markets already fatigued from geopolitical conflicts in recent years.