US President Donald Trump believes that the Iraqi government should decide for itself whether to remain a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“As for OPEC, that's Iraq's decision“, the US president said, answering questions from journalists during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House.
Shafaq News previously reported that, according to its sources, Iraqi authorities are considering leaving OPEC if it rejects Baghdad's proposal to increase its production quota. On May 1, the UAE withdrew from OPEC and OPEC+, which includes 11 countries including Russia.
During his meeting with al-Zaidi, Trump also noted that he sees huge potential in Iraq and said that American companies will produce large volumes of oil there. “Iraq has huge potential because of its oil and other things, and we will make a lot of deals, we will create jobs for both countries. And we will produce a lot of oil“, the American leader said.
According to Trump, Baghdad wants to do business specifically with Washington. “Iraq doesn't want to do business with anyone else; it wants to do business with America, and that's a good thing. That's one of the reasons I'm so confident that al-Zaidi would be a great prime minister, and I've been advocating for that“, Trump said.