NEW YORK, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices plunged on Friday, after China announced that it would levy additional tariffs on U.S. imports worth about 75 billion U.S. dollars in response to the newly announced U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods.
The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled 1.18 U.S. dollars to settle at 54.17 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery declined 0.58 dollar to close at 59.34 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Based on laws and approved by the State Council, a total of 5,078 U.S. products, including crude oil, soybeans, peanuts, seafood, chicken, fruit and vegetables, and animal fur, will be subject to additional tariffs of 10 percent or 5 percent, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday.
The tariff hikes will be implemented in two batches and take effect at 12:01 p.m. Beijing Time on Sept. 1 and at 12:01 p.m. on Dec. 15, respectively, the commission said in a statement.
The U.S. government announced on Aug. 15 that it will impose additional tariffs of 10 percent on Chinese goods worth about 300 billion U.S. dollars, effective on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, respectively, in two batches.
Energy investors in the global financial markets have turned on a risk-off mode amid deepening worries that escalating U.S.-China trade war would whittle down global demand.
Along with the sliding crude futures, energy equities also extended marked losses. The energy sector sank over 3.8 percent as of market close, the worst performer of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors.
The sector involves a batch of oil and gas exploration and production companies, integrated power firms, refineries and other operations, which generate revenues tied to the prices of crude oil, natural gas and other commodities. Enditem
