08:45 AM EST, 01/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices fell early on Wednesday as a report showed a rise in U.S. inventories ahead of Donald Trump's threat to impose beginning on Saturday a 25% tariff on imports from Canada, which supplies 20% of U.S. crude demand.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was last seen down US$0.45 to US$73.32 per barrel, while March Brent crude was down US$0.48 to US$77.01.

In its weekly survey, the American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. oil inventories rose by one-million barrels last week, while the consensus analyst estimate called for a rise of 3.7-million barrels, according to Oilprice.com. The Energy Information Administration will release official storage data later on Wednesday.

The market is awaiting confirmation Trump will, as promised, impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada, which supplies more than four-million barrels per day of oil to the United States to refineries dependent on oil-sands heavy crudes. Trump has not indicated he plans to exempt oil imports from his promised blanket tariff and the market response to the potential levy remains unclear.

"The approaching expiry of the Brent contract and the self-imposed deadline of February 1 by the US administration on tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which will have a significant effect on US crude oil imports and product exports will guarantee volatile trading conditions," PVM Oil Associates noted.

OPEC+ will stage a ministerial meeting on Monday, with the group expected to stick with a plan to begin returning 2.2-million bpd of voluntary production cuts with 122,000 bpd monthly increases beginning in April.