US Cash Crude-Crude grades sticks to range as Trump threatens further tariffs

March 12 (Reuters) - U.S. cash crude grades held within a range on Wednesday, dealers said, a pattern that the market largely has stuck to since it whipsawed on the back of U.S. tariffs that went into effect against Mexico and Canada last week.

While inland grades WTI Midland WTC-WTM and West Texas Sour WTC-WTS eased slightly, coastal grades Light Louisiana Sweet WTC-LLS and Mars Sour WTC-MRS were little changed.

Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to escalate a global trade war with further tariffs on European Union goods, as major U.S. trading partners said they would retaliate for trade barriers already erected by the U.S. president.

The statement came just hours after Trump's 25% duties on all U.S. steel and aluminum imports took effect.

In U.S. supply, crude inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels to 435.2 million barrels in the week ended March 7, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million-barrel rise.

U.S. oil refiners are expected to have about 711,000 barrels per day of capacity offline in the week ending March 14, increasing available refining capacity by 330,000 bpd, research company IIR Energy said on Wednesday.

Abroad, OPEC said on Wednesday that Kazakhstan led a sizeable jump in February crude output by the wider OPEC+, highlighting a challenge for the producer group in enforcing adherence to agreed output targets.

Light Louisiana Sweet WTC-LLS for April delivery was little changed at a midpoint of a $3.75 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $3.65 and $3.85 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

Mars Sour WTC-MRS was little changed at a midpoint of a $1.6 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.50 and $1.7 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI Midland WTC-WTM eased 5 cents at a midpoint of a $1.20 premium and was seen bid and offered between a $1.10 and $1.30 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

West Texas Sour WTC-WTS eased 10 cents at a midpoint of a 70-cent premium and was seen bid and offered between a 60-cent and 80-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

WTI at East Houston WTC-MEH, also known as MEH, traded between a $1.30 and $1.50 a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures CLc1

ICE Brent May futures LCOc1 rose $1.39 to settle at $70.95 a barrel

WTI April crude CLc1 futures rose $1.43 to settle at $67.68 a barrel

The Brent/WTI spread WTCLc1-LCOc1 narrowed to last trade at minus $3.57, after hitting a high of minus $3.53 and a low of minus $3.64.