Economist Podcasts Oil rise: Trump gets the jitters
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Mar 10, 2026 
Avantika Chilkoti, a retail and consumer trends reporter, traces Erewhon’s rise from hippie co-op to luxury wellness supermarket. Simon Rabinovitch, Beijing bureau chief, explains China’s cautious, pragmatic stance in the Middle East. Edward Carr, deputy editor and markets analyst, breaks down why soaring oil prices rattled markets and constrained political options.
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Oil Prices Respond Strongly To Political Signals
- Oil prices are extremely sensitive to signals from political leaders and conflict trajectories.
- Edward Carr points to Brent swinging from pre-war levels to nearly $120 and falling to about $90 after Donald Trump's reassuring comments.
Short Oil Outages Cause Large Price Uncertainty
- Short disruptions to Gulf oil exports produce wide price trajectories depending on duration.
- Edward Carr cites Goldman Sachs projections: 15m bpd outage for 30 days pushes year-end Brent to $76, 60 days to $93, quick stop to mid-$60s.
War Aims Versus Keeping Oil Affordable
- There's a trade-off between pursuing deep war aims and keeping energy prices low.
- Carr argues the US must choose between fully degrading Iran's regime/nuclear options and tolerating higher oil-price premiums from sustained conflict.