Pump pressures

摘要

Rising retail fuel prices have caught the attention of national leaders the world over, prompting predictable responses. US president Donald Trump is pointing the finger at Opec. His Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is leaning on oil firms to cap retail prices while his country hosts the Fifa World Cup. In Asia-Pacific, governments so ready to grasp the nettle of cutting fuel subsidies while oil prices were falling in 2014-16 are steadily restoring them as oil prices rise again.