Vit-Mar/Shutterstock Save for later Print Download Share For the third time in five years, the global oil trade is facing significant disruption. First it was the Covid-19 pandemic, then Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine and the multiple waves of sanctions that followed, and now it is Washington鈥檚 Apr. 2 declaration of tariffs against both ally and adversary. Unlike the first two crises, new trade deals could make this new one vanish overnight. But the pain goes deeper with a global reshuffling of not just trade but also security and finance. Analysts are presaging economic troubles ahead and are lowering their demand growth forecast. They argue that the damage already done from the incipient trade war can鈥檛 be wholly undone, certainly not with the US and China still waging an all-out trade war. The price curves on Brent and WTI confirm the pessimistic outlook by flipping into contango in early 2026, a sign of an oversupplied market.
