Saudi Arabian oil minister Khalid al-Falih said last week that he believes president-elect Donald Trump will allow foreign oil imports to continue under his administration.
In an interview with the Financial Times, al-Falih said he believes that Trump will “see the benefits” of oil imports and that the oil industry will advise him that “blocking trade in any product is not healthy.”
“The US continues to be a very important part of a global industry that is interconnected, that is dealing with a fungible commodity which is crude oil. So having equalisation through free trade is very healthy for oil,” al-Falih said.
Trump has previously pledged to halt foreign oil imports coming into the United States as part of a plan to encourage domestic energy independence.
Although US oil imports have climbed by double digits year-over-year, growing domestic production pushed imports down to a 35 year low in 2015.
According to data collected by the EIA, gross imports from Saudi Arabia averaged about 1.06mn barrels per day in 2015, accounting for about 11% of total US imports.
Trump has made US energy production a centrepiece of his plan for his first 100 days in office.
