MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. The United States will not be able to keep the global oil prices at around $50 per barrel, as American leader Donald Trump would like, said Professor Jeffrey Sachs, an American economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University (New York).

In an interview with TASS, he said that the United States cannot keep the oil prices below $50 per barrel, because oil production in Venezuela is expensive, while American oil and gas at $50 per barrel are already running out. Shale production in the United States has reached its peak, he added.

Earlier, Trump said that the United States would like to see a further decline in the international oil prices to $53 per barrel. To do this, as The Wall Street Journal wrote, citing sources, the US administration plans to establish control over the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.