Donald Trump’s tariffs and drive to slash oil prices are “kneecapping” the US shale sector, chilling investment and risking reprisal against the industry, executives have warned.
Immediately after entering the White House, the president declared a “national energy emergency”, pledging to “drill, baby, drill” and pass on lower energy costs for consumers.
But bosses told a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas that the administrations’s support for low prices, levies on crucial goods and chaotic decision-making is scaring off investors and increasing costs. The report is often a source of surprisingly frank assessments of US energy policy because executives are allowed to provide responses anonymously.