Trump administration officials had already assured American oil executives that international diesel exports would continue, despite recent turmoil in the industry. The White House’s position turned on a dime this week, however, when Donald Trump moved in the opposite direction.
MS NOW reported, as part of the network’s live coverage of the United Nations General Assembly:
Trump … signaled his support for a ban on U.S. diesel exports, a measure that has gained conservative support as record high prices ripple across farm country, worrying Republicans weeks ahead of the midterm elections.
The White House initially resisted calls to restrict diesel fuel exports, but asked today if he backs the policy, Trump said, “I’ve called for it within my people.”
“I’ve said, ‘Let’s not send out the diesel,’” the president told reporters. “We make a lot of diesel, and it could have a little bit of an effect on regular automobile gasoline because when you do that, you know, it’s a sort of a flow, it’s a balance. But, no, I’ve called for it. I’ve called for it within my people.”
The sudden and unexpected shift, The Wall Street Journal reported, “blindsided industry officials.”
It was striking enough to see the president contradict his own administration, but the day after Trump’s unscripted comment, the story managed to get even messier. Reuters reported:
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday said a US ban on diesel exports would not work and could push up gasoline and jet fuel prices, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday backed the idea as diesel prices have surged to record highs in the US and Europe amid the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
“The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work,” he said at an event in New York.
Trump’s energy secretary added, “If you can’t export the diesel that comes out of our refineries, you run out of places to store it, and you have to reduce U.S. refining, which would put upward pressure on gasoline prices and jet fuel prices.” (A Goldman Sachs commodities researcher came to the same conclusion, making the case that an export ban would likely backfire.)
So, to recap, Trump blurted out a policy position he likely didn’t understand, only to be contradicted less than a day later by one of his own Cabinet secretaries, who might not have fully appreciated that prominent administration officials had been fired for failing to echo the president, even when he’s wrong.
While Team Trump struggles to get its story straight, diesel prices this week reached $6.53 a gallon — an all-time high.
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