00:00The U.S. president just called the Iranian response to his proposal to end the 10-week conflict totally unacceptable.
00:07And we're seeing energy futures rising alongside that, about a 3% gain or $3 gain on Brent along with
00:15WTI.
00:17Gas futures are also pulling up.
00:20And it's worth noting that prior to these latest headlines, overall markets have been trending a bit lower.
00:26The expectation that the physical oil market squeeze is easing a little.
00:31And perhaps the idea from traders that the worst-case scenario has already been gamed out.
00:37Let's bring in our team, Bloomberg editor Tony Schutzka and our chief North Asia correspondent Stephen Engel.
00:43Tony, let's start with you first.
00:45So, big week. We're getting these fresh headlines from the U.S. president.
00:50What's changed?
00:51Does it surprise you that he's come through with such a response to the Iranian proposal?
00:58Well, what's changed is a good question because it seems like we're sort of at a similar point that we
01:02were at exactly a week ago,
01:06just before the markets opened then.
01:08On the other hand, there was a Wall Street Journal report that quoted Iran as offering some concessions,
01:19including that it would hand over some of the highly enriched uranium to a third country,
01:24which incidentally was something that was done under the so-called Iran nuclear deal more than 10 years ago under
01:34Obama.
01:36But Tehran also is laying out a whole bunch of very broad demands about getting U.S. oil sanctions off
01:51and ending the war and ultimate control of the Strait of Hormuz,
01:55which really seemed to be something that, as Trump said, cannot be acceptable to the U.S.
02:02So, we're still at this stalemate, it seems.
02:06The only thing perhaps to note in Trump's latest social post was that he didn't really say what he found
02:13unacceptable about the Iranian demands.
02:16So, we're sort of left wondering a little bit or maybe with a little wiggle room there.
02:24And Steve, we're expecting the Iran war to feature highly in the Trump-She meetings as well.
02:32Yeah, absolutely.
02:33With that against the backdrop and with China obviously buying a lot of oil from Iran pre-war and allegedly
02:40during the war.
02:41And, of course, the issues in the Strait of Hormuz, which Chinese officials have been more vocal about,
02:47the need to have that passageway cleared and open for traffic.
02:51But, again, the Trump administration will likely be pushing Beijing for some answers on its financial support of Tehran,
03:00weapons, if any, and, of course, those purchases of Iranian oil.
03:05They've also, we've heard in the last 24 hours, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on three Chinese firms
03:11for providing satellite imagery to Iran, me-entropy technology of Hangzhou, the Earth Eye, Changguang satellite technology,
03:20all named by the U.S. in its entity list of those allegedly assisting Iran.
03:25So, again, there's the positives that the two sides want to emphasize, the so-called B's and T's,
03:35where the United States is going to be looking at the B side of that,
03:39and that is essentially Boeing jet sales, beef, beans, which means soybeans.
03:45Also, what Jamison Greer, the U.S. trade representative, has talked about,
03:49that is the proposal for this boards of trade and board of investment to sort of formalize areas
03:56where the two countries can cooperate in areas that are not necessarily deemed national security by either side.
04:05The T's for China are, of course, technology, tariffs,
04:11tariffs, and the big issue, of course, geopolitically in this region is Taiwan.
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