Donald Trump’s tariff blitz good news for Kiwi motorists as oil prices slump

Donald Trump's tariffs sent shockwaves through global sharemarkets and oil prices have fallen sharply.

• The price of Brent Crude Oil, the global benchmark, has dropped more than 11% in the past five days.
• The New Zealand sharemarket today has had $2.44 billion wiped off by the afternoon.
• Last week US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs as part of “Liberation Day”.

Kiwi motorists can expect cheaper petrol soon after Donald Trump’s tariff blitz last week sent sharemarkets into meltdown and oil prices tumbling.

Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement was followed by news of Opec+ planning a larger-than-expected increase in oil production.

The twin developments sent the price of Brent Crude Oil, the global benchmark, down 7% to its lowest levels since 2021.

Brent Crude Oil sat above US$74 ($132.93) prior to Trump announcing reciprocal tariffs on more than 125 countries before falling to around US$69.60 in afternoon trading.

The price fell further the following day to around US$64.49 and has dropped more than 11% in the past five days.

Local pump prices have already fallen 3.77% in the past month, according to the consumer website Gaspy.

The average New Zealand price of Unleaded 91 is more than 10 cents lower at $2.61.

On Thursday, the US President slapped huge new tariffs of 34% on imports from China and 20% on imports from the European Union – two of the main US trade partners.

A baseline 10% tariff was imposed on a wide range of other countries, including New Zealand.

Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said the 10% tariff on all exports to the US would cost the economy about $900 million or about 0.2% of GDP but is “likely to be manageable”.

This morning, BNZ economists called Trump’s tariffs “terrifying”.

“While the implications of the US Government’s tariff approach are staggering, perhaps what is more bothersome is that Trump’s actions are forcing us all to re-evaluate the role of the United States in the world.”

BNZ economists said the impact of tariffs will fall most heavily on the US consumer.

But the real game changer will be if other nations start applying tit-for-tat tariffs on the US, they said.

“Already the Chinese have announced a 34 percentage point increase in tariffs on US goods. It seems like the European Union will not be too far away from doing something similar.

“This can only add further to inflationary pressures in the countries that impose the tariffs and further impede global growth.”

They said the global growth environment is now fragile.

“The sense of this fragility becomes self reinforcing when market pricing starts to reflect the concerns. Take, for example, the huge declines in equity markets around the planet.”

The New Zealand sharemarket today had $2.44 billion wiped off by the afternoon and was down 3.5%.

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.