Crude oil futures ended higher on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imports from Canada threatened to disrupt North America's tightly integrated oil market. Within hours of Trump's executive order on tariffs on imports from Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a 25% counter-tariff on $107 billion of U.S. goods. It is feared that a trade war against Canada and Mexico could affect U.S. energy prices and have significant geopolitical ramifications. Meanwhile, the Organization of petroleum exporting countries and allies, collectively known as OPEC+, said after a meeting today that there won't be any changes to their oil production plans in the first quarter, and that crude output would be gradually restored in monthly stages beginning in April.
Benchmark crude oil futures for March rose $0.63 or 0.87 percent to settle at $73.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery gained $0.29 or 0.38 percent to settle at $75.96 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.