By Gram Slattery, Ryan Patrick Jones and Timothy Gardner
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he backed a ban on diesel exports, as Republican candidates in some of the tightest election races in November called for the measure as a way to curb record fuel prices.
Diesel prices have shot to record highs in the US and Europe as wars in Iran and Ukraine sharply cut exports from some of the biggest producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“I’ve said let’s not send out the diesel. We make a lot of diesel … I’ve called for it. I’ve called for it within my people,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
High fuel prices are a vulnerability for Trump in the November 3 elections in which Republicans are trying to maintain majorities in both chambers of Congress.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at the same meeting, said the administration was examining whether such a ban was feasible and whether a full or partial ban would work.
Several Republican candidates in the most competitive congressional races nationwide, such as US Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska, US Representative Ashley Hinson in Iowa, and Mike Rogers in Michigan, have called for the Trump administration to implement the ban.
“American fuel should stay home with Americans,” Sullivan said in a statement on Tuesday. “The cost of diesel is just too damn high. I’m calling for a temporary pause of American diesel exports so that we can rebuild our reserves ahead of winter and put American and Alaskan families first.”
Affordability of food and other goods is at the top of voters’ concerns ahead of the midterms.
Hinson and Rogers on Monday also called for a swift end to the war in Iran, putting distance between themselves and Trump.
The US Agriculture Department last week urged the White House to take action on diesel prices, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Monday that she had spoken with Trump about the issue, calling high prices “a real concern,” according to Politico.
ENERGY OFFICIALS WARN OF RISKS
Trump’s backing of a diesel export ban puts him at odds with his own energy officials, who warn it could raise fuel prices on the coasts and tighten supplies for European allies.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told a Daily Caller event last week a ban would lead to a glut of diesel in the US Gulf Coast and prompt US refiners to cut production rates, which would quickly reduce gasoline production. “If you start putting barriers on flows, pretty quickly you will reduce the production, and you’ll have less supply. We need more supply, not less supply,” Wright said.
Doug Burgum, the US interior secretary, said that a ban would be unlikely to lower petroleum prices and could lead to retaliatory measures by energy exporting countries, which states like California rely on for some of their energy.
Oil interests have also pushed against a ban. Todd Staples, president of TXOGA, an oil and natural gas trade association in Texas, said it “would cripple domestic jobs, lead to fuel shortages here at home and put power in the hands of China and Russia by forcing our allies to turn to those countries to meet their needs.”
While a diesel export ban could, in theory, temporarily lower prices on the US Gulf Coast, it would tighten supplies further in Europe, which is structurally short on diesel and relies heavily on US exports.
“That would seem pretty damaging to some key U.S. allies,” said Jim Mitchell, director of oil trading analytics at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Trump said he and Zelenskiy would discuss Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries in Russia.
“It is a serious hit on the Russians. It’s also a serious hit on the price of diesel,” said Trump, who also told reporters the two leaders would discuss working out a solution to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery at the UN, Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Timothy Gardner in Washington; additional reporting by Bo Erickson and Leah Douglas in Washington, Jarrett Renshaw in Rhode Island and Nichole Jao in New York, Editing by David Ljunggren and Sanjeev Miglani)
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