Oil extended a volatile run as investors grappled with abrupt shifts in US tariff policy, with futures returning to losses after a brief relief rally ignited by President Donald Trump’s decision to pause some levies.

Brent fell below $65 a barrel, after posting its best one-day gain since October, while west Texas Intermediate was near $62. With markets in turmoil, Trump suddenly announced a 90-day halt on higher tariffs that had hit dozens of nations, but he also raised duties on China to 125%.

“Given the unlikely near-term de-escalation of US-China trade war, the rebound is unlikely to turn into a trend-setting reversal,” said Zhou Mi, an analyst at the Chaos Research Institute in Shanghai.

Oil had hit a four-year low as the aggressive US tariff push sparked warnings of a global recession that would depress energy demand. At the same time, the OPEC+ alliance committed to loosening output curbs at a faster pace that expected, spurring concerns about a bigger global glut.

China is the largest oil importer, and the higher US levies may weigh on the nation’s consumption of fuels and petrochemicals. Even before Trump’s return to the White House, usage of gasoline and diesel had been contracting, in part because of a drawn-out property crisis, and in part because of the spread of electric vehicles and renewables.

In a reflection of the nation’s deep-seated economic challenges, data on Thursday showed that consumer deflation extended for a second month in March, while factory deflation persisted for a 30th month.

Parts of oil’s futures curve remain in contango, a bearish pricing pattern that’s characterized by nearer-term contracts trading at a discount to longer-dated ones. Among them for Brent, the price for March 2026 traded below rates for the following three months.

Crude’s rebound on Wednesday came despite figures showing US commercial inventories expanded to the highest level since last July.