08:46 AM EST, 02/14/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices rose early on Friday following two days of losses as traders gauge the latest moves from the U.S. Administration, which is promising to end Russia's war on Ukraine while threatening widespread tariffs on the country's trading partners.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was last seen up US$0.70 to US$71.99 per barrel, while April Brent crude was up US$0.81 to US$75.836.

Prices are rebounding from two days of losses as traders digest the possibility of the full return of Russian supplies to the market. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he plans to stage negotiations with Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, to end the war in Ukraine with favorable terms for Russia.

Trump followed that on Thursday by ordering officials to develop custom tariffs for imports from all U.S. trading partners and report their recommendations for imposing reciprocal tariffs. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said a study would be complete by April 1, though the delay is being seen as an opportunity to negotiate new trade deals.

"The US President can be accused of many things; inertia is not one of them. The tariff merry-go-round keeps spinning and not even God knows when it will stop. In his latest salvo, he promised to introduce reciprocal tariffs on every country, which disincentivises US imports. He gave his Commerce Secretary until April 1, Fool's Day, to establish the scale of the retaliatory measures on individual nations. It implies that there is time and room for reactive action from those who are in the crosshairs of the US," PVM Oil Associates noted.

Friday's rise also comes after the International Energy Agency on Thursday raised its demand-growth forecast for 2025 to 1.1-million barrels per day from 0.87 million on rising Asian demand despite China's struggling economy.

"China will marginally remain the largest source of growth, even as the pace of its expansion is a fraction of recent trends and driven almost entirely by its petrochemical sector. At the same time, India and other emerging Asian economies are taking up increasing shares," the agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report.