Trump’s trade war hits profits at Saudi oil giant

Uncertainty unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war has delivered a financial blow to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant ahead of the US president’s high-profile visit to the Kingdom this week.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, said on Sunday that profits over the first quarter of the year fell by 5pc to $26bn (£19.5bn), as worries over global trade dampened oil prices.

This led to the company cutting its dividend from $31bn to $21.4bn in the final quarter of last year.

Amin H. Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, said: “Global trade dynamics affected energy markets in the first quarter of 2025, with economic uncertainty impacting oil prices.”

Oil prices have tumbled in the wake of Mr Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement, owing to fears that they will slow economic activity around the world.

A recent decision by the Opec cartel to increase production has also put downward pressure on crude oil prices, which are now hovering at around $64 a barrel.

Saudi Aramco said it sold barrels of crude oil at an average price of $76.30 in the first quarter, compared to $83 over the same period last year.

Shares in the business were also down more than 3pc in the last month and have dropped by almost 17pc over the last year.

It comes as Mr Trump is preparing for a tour of the Middle East this week, where he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the hope of striking a string of lucrative investment deals.

Mr Trump has said he hopes to convince Riyadh to invest more than $1 trillion into the US economy.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House’s press secretary, said last week Mr Trump was looking forward to making a “historic return” to the Middle East.

She said: “President Trump will return to re-emphasise his continued vision for a proud, prosperous and successful Middle East, where the United States and Middle Eastern nations are in cooperative relationships, and where extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges.”

Robert Mogielnicki, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told Reuters: “The Trump administration wants this trip to be a big deal. That means lots of splashy deal announcements and collaborations that can be sold as being good for America.”

Meanwhile, the hit to Saudi Aramco’s profits follows similar declines at rival oil giants Shell and BP.

BP posted a 49pc drop in profits for the first quarter last month, while Shell’s profits for the same period dropped by almost a third.

For Saudi Aramco, which is 81.5pc owned by the Saudi government, it will add to pressures on the Kingdom’s leadership as it battles to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels.