President Trump is very seriously considering a U.S. diesel export ban amid record fuel prices, drawing opposition from cabinet officials and Republican senators who warn it could backfire.
Pressed by reporters Sunday at a golf tournament in Illinois, Trump said his administration is “thinking about it very seriously” and “looking at it very seriously.” He added, “We may do it,” while noting the policy can oftentimes lead to a little bit of an increase on gasoline for cars.
Diesel has jumped to around $6.50 a gallon, record highs and nearly $3 above the $3.69 level a year earlier, per AAA figures. Regular gas has climbed roughly 40 cents in a month to a national average of $4.48. Truckers, farmers, and families feel that pain first. Trump is weighing whether keeping more diesel inside the country could ease those costs even as key Republicans and his own energy team argue the tool would shrink supply instead.
The shift lands after months of clear pushback inside the administration and on Capitol Hill. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had framed export curbs as off-limits. Oil-state senators now call any ban a mistake that would hurt refiners and fail to deliver relief.
In May, Wright said a ban was then “absolutely” ruled out. Burgum called export curbs “bad on all accounts” the same month. Last week Wright returned to the point at a public event.
Wright stated, “The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn't work.” He warned it “would put upward pressure on gasoline prices and jet fuel prices.”
A Department of Energy spokesman later told the Daily Mail that the Trump administration, including Secretary Wright, continue to work closely together as they consider a variety of options to help lower energy costs for the American people. Ultimately, President Trump will make the final decisions.
That leaves the choice with the president. The White House was contacted for comment. No formal export-ban order has been described as drafted or signed, only serious consideration of the option.
Republican lawmakers from major energy states moved quickly against the idea. Texas Sen. John Cornyn told Semafor last week the ban is “a gimmick” that “won't work.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, also of Texas, called any implemented ban a “mistake.” He told NBC News the damage would hit home for producers.
Cruz said, “It would have massive harm to the refining industry.” He added, “We refine more diesel than we consume, and it would end up forcing refiners to reduce production. So it would backfire badly.”
Louisiana Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy have also come out against any potential ban. Kennedy told reporters last week, “Everything I've read tells me it won't do any good.”
The core objection is straightforward. Opponents say the United States already produces and refines more diesel than the country uses. Restricting exports could fill storage tanks and force producers to pump less. That outcome would tighten supply rather than expand it, the opposite of what drivers need when prices are already high.
American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers issued a statement tying the pain directly to global refining trouble and rejecting fresh restrictions.
"Americans are hurting from rising diesel costs driven by an unprecedented disruption to global refining capacity. The answer is more supply and more flexibility, not new restrictions that risk making a difficult situation worse."
Trump donor and oil executive Dan Eberhart struck a similar note with the Wall Street Journal. “I think we’ve invested too much in developing customers overseas, and this is the wrong signal,” he said.
Those warnings sit against a year of sharp price pressure. Strikes on oil refining sites and attacks on energy facilities in the Middle East, Russia, and Ukraine have disrupted supply. A U.S. blockade on Tehran’s energy has further restricted global flows. The Iran conflict over the last seven months is described as a driver of the steep rise in U.S. gas prices. Last month’s climb pushed regular gasoline from $4.09 to the current average.
Advocates of keeping more fuel stateside argue it could ease costs for farmers and truckers who burn diesel every day. Trump’s own remarks flagged the trade-off: any move that lifts gasoline prices for cars has to be weighed carefully. He is examining that balance in public rather than dismissing the pain at the pump.
Prediction market Kalshi puts Democratic chances of winning House control at 92 percent and Senate control at 62 percent, both described as all-time highs for the party’s odds heading into this November’s elections. Fuel prices remain a kitchen-table issue for voters who fill tanks and pay freight costs passed through to groceries and goods.
Trump visited a liquid natural gas facility in Louisiana in 2019, underscoring a long-running focus on American energy production and export capacity. The current debate turns on whether a diesel export curb would protect that capacity or undercut it. Wright’s portfolio covers oil and gas production and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; his repeated public warnings against a ban carry weight inside the energy apparatus.
No one claims the ban has already taken effect. The live question is whether the administration will move from serious consideration to an actual restriction, and whether that restriction would lower diesel costs or simply force refiners to cut runs. Cruz, Cornyn, Kennedy, Cassidy, Wright, Burgum, Sommers, and Eberhart have all lined up on the side of more supply and flexibility. Trump has kept the option open while prices sit at painful levels.
Record diesel and rising gasoline leave little room for half-measures that shrink refining output. Lower costs come from abundant American production and open markets, not from bottling up fuel that U.S. refiners already make in surplus.
