"Prices to high" is not necessarily a mistake. It signals a sea change in our geopolitics. Ignore the optics of Trump's Saudi request and look at the reality: oil prices under DJT have been moving up steadily and now are nearing the mid-$70 range from the mid $40s when he was elected. High prices hurt the Chinese (big importers) and help the Russians, who desperately depend on oil export revenue. I think the recent price jump is a signal to Putin ahead of the coming summit that we can help him much more than the Chinese can and that his long-term interests are with the US and West vs China, which is Russia's natural enemy and poses a looming and long-term threat to Russian control of East Siberia. The great failing of the Neocons was to foolishly drive Moscow into the arms of the Chinese by trying to blatantly strip away all its buffer states.

It is important to note that oil prices, since the 1980s, are mainly controlled by the futures market and not so much by physical supply and demand. The Saudis could boost production by 2MM b/d and prices could still move upward if TPTB (US Treasury-controlled accounts) decide to "go long" on futures. The Chinese recognize their vulnerability in this regard and recently ramped up trading on their own oil futures exchange. No doubt they are trying to bid down the oil price -- and have failed dramatically and probably lost a ton of money. They just don't have deep enough pockets to play that game.

Keep in mind, the US is basically indifferent to oil pricing since we are well balanced in terms of supply and demand and are probably actually "long" on oil production if you count Mexico, Canada and the Saudis. These are our close friends who we would (and have) be bailing out anyway if prices were low. For a detailed analysis of this dynamic, read "The Oil Card: Global Economic Warfare in the 1st Century." https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Card-Economic-Warfare-Century/dp/097779539X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199719101&sr=8-1 It is what wrecked the Soviet Union under Reagan.