Sen. Chuck Grassley is pressing President Trump to halt diesel exports as record Iowa fuel costs squeeze farmers and raise prices across the economy.
Grassley called for an export embargo Saturday after Iowa diesel reached $6.29 per gallon, up from $5.35 during the past month, Newsweek reported.
The Iowa Republican argued that restricting diesel shipments abroad could lower costs at home. He warned that current prices were “KILLING FARMERS' INCOME.”
The national average reached $6.51 per gallon Sunday, compared with $3.70 one year earlier. Diesel had already passed its previous all-time high in early September.
Those numbers explain the pressure on Washington. Diesel powers farm equipment and freight trucks, so a sustained increase reaches far beyond the fuel pump.
Grassley asked Trump to “put an embargo on diesel exports like presidents in the 70s put embargoes on ag products bc food prices were inflated.” An embargo would block or restrict diesel shipments to foreign buyers.
The senator’s appeal came as concerns about farm finances and domestic food supplies grew during crop-harvesting season. Farmers must keep equipment running even when fuel costs consume more of their margins.
John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Newsweek that “struggling farmers are paying the price, losing our profit margin and going out of business.”
Boyd also tied the fuel increase to the conflict involving Iran. “Trump says the United States is winning the war in Iran and we are in control the Strait of Hormuz. Based on 10-dollar diesel fuel we are losing the war,” he said.
Brown University’s Watson School estimated that American households had spent an additional $50 billion on diesel since that conflict began. Its calculation used a roughly 77 percent increase to $6.49 per gallon as of Sunday.
The source did not explain the two-cent difference between that figure and the reported national average of $6.51. Both figures, however, describe a steep increase from the prior year.
Grassley is not alone in considering export limits. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that he was “open” to examining a ban.
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee also filed a bill that would prohibit diesel exports to other countries through January 2027. The bill number and full legislative text were not identified.
Burchett’s office said higher diesel costs do not stay confined to farms or filling stations.
“Diesel fuel powers the trucks, farm equipment, and machinery that keep our economy moving, meaning higher fuel costs are ultimately passed on to consumers through higher prices for groceries, goods, and services,” the office said.
The scale of foreign sales has sharpened the debate. Energy Information Administration data cited by Newsweek showed that the United States exported nearly 400 million barrels of diesel in the previous year.
Nearly 50 million barrels went abroad in May. That marked an all-time high in records dating to 2009.
Newsweek did not report that Trump had accepted or rejected Grassley’s request. The White House instead referred questions to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s comments about the proposal.
Burgum said policymakers should consider measures that produce real savings. But he questioned whether Grassley’s proposed embargo would pass that test.
“Every idea should be on the table that will actually lower the price of diesel or lower the price of gasoline,” Burgum said during an interview at the G20 Energy Ministerial.
He followed with a warning: “I’m not at all confident that that would actually lower the price.” Burgum said the policy “could actually hurt Americans” and raised the possibility of foreign “retribution.”
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers trade group offered a similar objection. It argued that refiners unable to export or store surplus diesel might cut production instead.
That response, the group said, would tighten supply and put upward pressure on prices. It could also weaken domestic energy security while giving foreign competitors more market share.
“Export bans do not create more fuel for Americans,” the group said. “They reduce U.S. fuel production, put upward pressure on prices, weaken energy security and hand market share to foreign competitors.”
The Department of Agriculture said the administration “recognizes that diesel powers American agriculture and this administration is not leaving any stone unturned to resolve this temporary challenge.”
The dispute now turns on whether an export ban would leave more diesel at home or prompt refiners to produce less. Grassley and Burchett see foreign shipments as a place to seek immediate relief.
Burgum and the refining industry warn that disrupting those sales could backfire. Their objection does not erase the farmers’ problem, but it does put the burden on Congress to show its plan would work.
Washington cannot treat $6 diesel as a routine inconvenience. Farmers absorb the cost first, and families encounter it later through higher prices for the goods they need.
Conservative government should protect American producers without replacing one costly distortion with another. The standard is simple: lower the burden, preserve supply and demand results.
