U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event with Artemis II astronauts, NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Pilot Victor Glover, NASA Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 29, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he strongly supports the United Arab Emirates’ decision to leave the international oil cartel OPEC, saying he believes the move will bring energy prices down.
“I think it’s great,” Trump told reporters at the White House after meeting with Artemis II astronauts.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is “very smart,” said Trump, “and he probably maybe wants to go his own way. That’s a good thing.”
“I think ultimately it’s a good thing for getting the price of gas down, getting oil down, getting everything down,” Trump said, adding, “they’re having some problems in OPEC.”
Oil prices have spiraled upwards since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on Feb. 28.
The UAE in a surprise announcement Tuesday said it would end its long association with the group on May 1.
The decision was quickly viewed as a blow to OPEC and its 11 remaining members, which have coordinated on setting oil prices and production quotas for more than six decades.
The UAE was OPEC’s third-largest oil producer in February, behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Abu Dhabi concluded after reviewing its production policy and capacity that exiting the group was in its national interest, its energy ministry said in a statement.
The ministry stressed its appreciation for the OPEC alliance and said it values its decades of cooperation with the organization’s members.
But the announcement also comes after the UAE has faced repeated missile and drone attacks by Iran, a fellow OPEC member, which has responded to the war started by the U.S. and Israel by launching strikes on regional powers.
Tehran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz has also severely constrained the UAE’s ability to export oil, threatening its economy.
The Trump administration has responded to Iran’s actions in the strait by imposing its own retaliatory blockade of Iranian ports.
The meddling in the strait has led to an apparent stalemate in negotiations. Iran has proposed a mutual reopening of the strait, while postponing nuclear talks for later, but Trump rejected the plan, Axios reported Wednesday morning.
“They are choking like a stuffed pig, and it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told the outlet.
Trump, speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, called his blockade “genius” and “100% foolproof,” suggesting it will stay in place until Iran waves the white flag.
“They have to cry uncle” and say they “give up,” Trump said.
Asked if the blockade will be enough to bring Iran to the table for peace talks or if further strikes will be necessary, Trump said it “depends.”
U.S. Central Command is preparing for a possible “short and powerful” wave of strikes in hopes of breaking the deadlock with Iran, Axios reported.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.