Oil falls amid new round of tariffs in U.S.-China trade war

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday after
new tariffs imposed by the United States and China came into
force, raising concerns about a further hit to global growth and
demand for crude.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 42 cents, or 0.7%, at $58.83 a
barrel by 0041 GMT, while U.S. oil CLc1 was down 27 cents, or
0.5%, at $54.83 at barrel.
The United States began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of
Chinese goods on Sunday - including footwear, smart watches and
flat-panel televisions - as China put new duties on U.S. crude,
the latest escalation in a bruising trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump said the sides would still meet
for talks later this month.
Trump, writing on Twitter, said his goal was to reduce U.S.
reliance on China and he again urged American companies to find
alternate suppliers outside China.
Beijing's levy of 5% on U.S. crude marks the first time the
fuel had been targeted since the world's two largest economies
started their trade war more than a year ago. "The trade and tariff overhang is inescapable for oil
markets, so while trade uncertainties persist, it will be
difficult for oil to shrug off concerns about the threat to
global demand," said Stephen Innes, APAC market strategist at
AxiTrader.
Elswehere, OPEC oil output rose in August for the first
month this year as higher supply from Iraq and Nigeria
outweighed restraint by top exporter Saudi Arabia and losses
caused by U.S. sanctions on Iran, a Reuters survey found.
South Korea's exports tumbled in August for a ninth
consecutive month, on sluggish demand from its biggest buyer,
China, and depressed prices of computer chips globally,
government data showed on Sunday.
The bleak data clouded the outlook for Asia's fourth-largest
economy as a brewing trade dispute with Japan emerged as a new
risk on top of the prolonged U.S.-China trade war.