Oil settles higher as US, China try to de-escalate trade tensions

By Shariq Khan NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Monday after assurances that U.S. President Donald Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later in October, easing a flare-up in trade tensions between the world's top two economies that had pushed crude benchmarks to five-month lows on Friday. Brent crude futures settled 59 cents higher, or 0.9%, at $63.32 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also closed up 59 cents, or 1%, at $59.49 a barrel. Both contracts fell around 4% on Friday to settle at their lowest since May, after Trump threatened to cancel the meeting with Xi and to impose steep new tariffs on imports from China. However, U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent said on Monday that the meeting between the U.S. and Chinese leaders remains on track to be he