Oil Drops, Markets Rattle as Trump Unleashes Tariffs
Oil prices slipped on Wednesday afternoon after initially climbing more than $1 as markets digested a sweeping new round of global tariffs announced by an aggrieved U.S. President Donald Trump from the Rose Garden. The announcement rattled equity markets and fueled uncertainty across commodities, despite initial gains. Both Brent and WTI crude futures lost ground on Wednesday afternoon, reversing gains made after Trump revealed that a minimum 10% tariff would be imposed on all countries exporting goods to the United States. Additionally, 60 countries with the largest trade imbalances — including China, the European Union, and Vietnam — now face even steeper levies. China, for example, will see its total tariff level soar to 54%, according to the White House. Despite the broad reach of the new tariffs, the energy sector was largely spared. A White House official confirmed that imports of oil, gas, and refined products are exempt from the measures. Canada — a key U.S. trade partner — was formally exempted from Wednesday’s reciprocal tariff action. However, the White House noted that non-compliant CUSMA (Canada–U.S.–Mexico Agreement) goods would still be subject to a 25% tariff, and non-compliant CUSMA energy and potash exports would face a 10% duty. While oil markets digested the news with a slight downward turn, broader equity markets saw a sharper reaction. S&P 500 futures dropped 3.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled 4.2%, falling below their March 13 intraday lows to levels not seen since last September. Still, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on Bloomberg TV, attempted to calm jittery investors, calling the move “the certainty on tariffs markets have long craved.” Bessent urged investors to “embrace the clarity” brought by the administration’s trade position. For now, while energy markets appear buffered by the exemption, traders remain cautious amid fears that retaliatory measures and a potential global trade slowdown could ultimately weigh on crude demand.
Canada Plots Energy Escape Route from Trump’s America
The leaders of Canada’s two biggest political parties are promising expansion and modernization of energy infrastructure to reduce dependence on the United States for energy exports amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff and sovereignty threats. Mark Carney, the Prime Minister who replaced Justin Trudeau and is leading the Liberal Party ahead of the April 28 federal election, says that Canada’s principal investment imperatives include “expanding and modernizing our energy infrastructure so that we are less dependent both on foreign suppliers and the United States as our main customer.” The leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, vowed this week that if the Conservatives came to power after a 10-year Liberal rule, he would create a ‘Canada First’ National Energy Corridor to rapidly approve and build the infrastructure Canada needs to end its energy dependence on America, “so we can stand up to Trump from a position of strength.” The Liberals, who were trailing Conservatives for years under former PM Trudeau, are now ahead in the opinion polls and widening the lead over Conservatives as the new Liberal leader Carney is seen as more capable than Poilievre of standing up to President Trump’s threats. If the six-point lead of the Liberals holds until Election Day, Carney could be able to form Canada’s first majority government in a decade. Conservative leader Poilievre, however, is more vocal than Carney in Canada’s need to cut its overall trade and energy export dependence on the United States. Poilievre announced on Monday that he would create a ‘Canada First’ National Energy Corridor to fast-track approvals for transmission lines, railways, pipelines, and other critical infrastructure across Canada in a pre-approved transport corridor entirely within Canada, transporting Canadian resources within Canada and to the world while bypassing the United States. The corridor “will bring billions of dollars of new investment into Canada’s economy, create powerful paycheques for Canadian workers, and restore our economic independence,” the Conservative Party said. Poilievre’s plan is that all levels of government “will provide legally binding commitments to approve projects,” which would end the “endless regulatory limbo” for investors. “In 2024, Canada exported 98% of its crude oil to the United States. This leaves us too dependent on the Americans,” said Poilievre. “Our Canada First National Energy Corridor will get us out from under America’s thumb and enable us to build the infrastructure we need to sell our natural resources to new markets, bring home jobs and dollars, and make us sovereign and self-reliant to stand up to Trump from a position of strength.” The U.S. tariff threat was a wake-up call for Canadian policymakers that the federal and provincial governments may have too hastily scrapped over the past decade Alberta-to-coast pipeline projects that could have diversified Canada’s oil and gas exports. Last month, the chief executives of some of the largest Canadian energy companies called on Canada’s main political parties to declare a Canadian energy crisis and key projects in the “national interest,” which would speed up reforms, planning, and construction of new oil and gas pipelines and LNG terminals. The open letter from 14 CEOs representing the four largest pipeline companies and 10 largest oil and natural gas companies recommends five key steps to build new energy infrastructure—simplify regulation, commit to firm deadlines for project approvals, grow production, attract investments, and encourage Indigenous co-investment opportunities. On Tuesday, Poilievre committed to meeting all of the policy recommendations from Canada’s energy sector to end dependence on the U.S. market and unleash Canada’s economy. Poilievre challenged Carney to do the same and to repudiate his commitment to “keep it in the ground”. “Canada’s energy sector, the experts on energy growth, have told us what we need to do. Today, I am committing to meeting all of their urgent recommendations,” Poilievre said. Carney, for his part, announced last week a plan to diversify Canadian trade by improving Canada’s trade-enabling infrastructure. A Mark Carney-led Liberal government will inject US$3.5 billion (C$5 billion) into a new Trade Diversification Corridor Fund to accelerate projects at ports, railroads, inland terminals, airports, and highways.
India achieves historic milestone in renewable energy sector, adds 25 GW of capacity in FY 25
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) achieved historic milestone in the renewable energy sector for the financial year 2024-25. The country has added an unprecedented 25 GW of renewable energy capacity, marking an increase of nearly 35% over the previous year’s addition of 18.57 GW. India’s solar power sector led the renewable energy growth, with capacity additions soaring from 15 GW in FY24 to nearly 21 GW in FY25, a remarkable 38% increase. The country also achieved the significant milestone of surpassing 100 GW of installed solar capacity this year.
GAIL opens fresh round of inviting proposals for equity investment in start-ups
Continuing its commitment to support innovative Start-Ups, GAIL (India) Limited on Tuesday launched the 10th round of its initiative ‘GAIL Pankh’ through which interested Start-Ups can apply for equity investment from the Maharatna PSU. They can apply through the link ‘GAIL Pankh’ on GAIL website https://gailonline.com. The 10th round will remain open from April 1, 2025 till May 31, 2025. Start-Ups operating in focus areas which mainly include Natural Gas, Petrochemicals, Energy, Project management, E-commerce, Fintech, IoT and Data mining, Environment, Health, Social, Security and Safety, may apply for funding. GAIL has a corpus of Rs 5 billion for its Start-Up initiative.