Crude prices fell by more than 4% in mid-trading on Thursday, April 3, continuing their decline of more than 2% on Wednesday after the US President imposed a series of tariffs amid anticipation of today’s OPEC+ meeting. Nymex crude oil is trading down approximately 4.67%, trading at $68.35 a barrel, while Brent crude is trading at $71.67 a barrel, down approximately 4.38%.

Later in yesterday’s session, Wednesday, April 2, US President Donald Trump announced, as scheduled, the final round of tariffs, imposing a minimum of 10% tariffs on countries, scheduled to take effect on April 5. Crude oil prices fell by more than 2% from their highest level recorded during yesterday’s session, affected by these tariffs, which affect economic growth and, consequently, energy demand levels.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s report released Wednesday showed a rise in inventories of 6.02 million barrels in the week ending March 28, compared to expectations of a decline of about 700,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories fell by about 1.6 million barrels, while distillate inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, also rose by about 300,000 barrels.

Crude markets are awaiting a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its non-OPEC allies, the so-called OPEC+ alliance led by Russia, later today. Expectations indicate that the organization will maintain its production policy unchanged, which calls for the planned increase in production to begin on April 1.