The White House is moving toward a 90-day diesel export ban to tame record fuel prices — prices driven sky-high by the Iran War — and the administration's own Energy Secretary says the ban will just make things worse for ordinary Americans.
Diesel hit $6.52 a gallon Wednesday, up 76% from a year ago, according to AAA. The US-Israeli war with Iran and Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have crimped global supply. Now politicians who backed the interventions that broke the market want to fix it with more government intervention — this time by choking off the diesel exports that keep American refineries running at capacity.
The ban would be the first since 2015, when Obama lifted the last one. Politico reported the legal process is still being worked out, but the idea has split the White House. An oil industry executive who spoke with White House officials described two camps: one worried about prices at the pump, and a political camp insisting "dammit, something has to happen."
That political camp got ammunition from Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who said diesel prices are crushing farmers and demanded Trump act. Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson joined him, calling for a ban and an end to the war.
But the people who actually understand fuel logistics are sounding the alarm. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Daily Caller last week an export ban could mean "more expensive gasoline right away." Wednesday, at an Economist event in New York, he doubled down: "The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn't work because the U.S. exports a lot of diesel."
The math is straightforward. The U.S. is the world's largest diesel exporter. Refineries don't just make diesel — they also produce gasoline and jet fuel. If diesel can't be exported, storage fills up, refineries cut runs, and every fuel price climbs. Refineries were already running at 94% of capacity last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. There is no slack.
American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers warned the same thing: "An export ban could actually mean less fuel gets produced."
TACenergy analysts agreed, writing that lost export ability would force plants to cut run rates and reduce gasoline output — "which becomes counterproductive."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have also opposed a total ban inside the administration. Burgum warned last week it could trigger retaliatory action from countries that export fuel to the U.S., hitting states like California especially hard.
Wright said the administration is working with refiners to boost supply in a "simpler, voluntary, cooperative fashion, without using blunt instruments." He also pointed to Venezuela, where U.S. special forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January and left his deputy Delcy Rodríguez in charge. Wright said companies are interested in investing there and "tens of billions of dollars are flowing." How that helps American diesel prices next month is an open question.
The Department of Energy issued a statement insisting Wright "remains fully aligned with the President in exploring all available options to lower energy prices." A White House official said Trump "wants to see gas prices at the pump fall and is evaluating all the options on the table."
The pattern is the problem. Washington backs foreign interventions that scramble energy markets, then scrambles for government controls when the bill comes due. Working Americans pay at the pump both times — once for the war, once for the fix that won't work. The only question is whether anyone in either party will name the real price of the Iran War before November.
