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Oil prices sank almost 8% Thursday, their biggest drop since February 2015, after President Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese imports, stoking fears that the trade dispute between the two countries will drag on, crimping global growth, the WSJ reported.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude prices, settled 7.9% lower at $53.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The last time prices fell by roughly this much was more than four years ago, when waves of new production from U.S. shale drillers flooded the market. Brent, the global reference price, tumbled 7% to $60.50 on Thursday.

Mr. Trump said on Twitter Thursday afternoon that tariffs of 10% would be applied on an additional $300 billion of Chinese goods and products starting Sept. 1.

Oil prices had been down earlier in the day as the U.S. dollar strengthened after the Federal Reserve disappointed investors Wednesday by failing to explicitly confirm expectations of additional stimulus in the months ahead.