Oil rises after Trump says China trade deal likely

TOKYO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday after
U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected to sign a trade
deal with China, calming nerves after a round of tit-for-tat
tariff hikes had sent markets reeling.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up by 27 cents, or 0.5%, at $58.97 a
barrel by 0024 GMT, after falling 1% the previous session,
dropping for a third day in a row.
U.S. crude CLc1 was up by 23 cents or 0.4% at $$53.87 a
barrel, having also dropped 1% on Monday for a fourth day of
declines.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday predicted a trade deal
with China after positive gestures by Beijing, settling global
markets that have been roiled by new tariffs from the world's
two largest economies. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who has been leading the talks
with Washington, said on Monday that China was willing to
resolve the trade dispute through "calm" negotiations and
opposed any increase in trade tensions.
Oil prices have fallen around 20% from a 2019 high reached
in April, in part because of worries that the U.S.-China trade
conflict is hurting the global economy, which could dent demand
for oil.
China's Commerce Ministry said last week it would impose
additional tariffs of 5% or 10% on a total of 5,078 products
originating from the United States, including crude oil,
agricultural products and small aircraft. In retaliation, Trump said he was ordering U.S. companies to
look at ways to close operations in China and make products in
the United States. "Unless you believe a trade deal will happen the slowdown in
the global economy continues ... and earnings all over the globe
will be under pressure," said Greg McKenna, strategist at
McKenna Macro.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories likely
fell last week, while distillate stockpiles rose, a preliminary
Reuters poll showed on Monday. EIA/S
Five analysts polled by Reuters estimated, on average, that
crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels in the week to Aug.
23.