US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that he backs banning US diesel exports, a step farm-state lawmakers have demanded as fuel costs soar: “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,” he told reporters at United Nations headquarters in New York, ahead of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Reuters, in a dispatch carried by The Sacramento Bee. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the same meeting that the administration is examining whether a ban is feasible and whether a full or partial ban would work. Diesel prices have hit records in the United States and Europe because the wars in Iran and Ukraine have cut exports from some of the largest producers, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; the average US pump price rose above $6.50 a gallon, a record, according to AAA as cited by Bloomberg. Trump’s backing puts him at odds with his own energy and interior secretaries. Chris Wright said a ban would create a glut of diesel on the Gulf Coast and push refiners to cut production, which would also reduce petrol supply, and argued for more supply. Doug Burgum said a ban would be unlikely to lower petroleum prices and could trigger retaliation from energy-exporting countries. A ban could ease prices on the Gulf Coast while tightening supplies further in Europe, which is structurally short of diesel and relies 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, according to Reuters.