Trump is backing a diesel export ban. How much would that do?

Filed 4h ago · Via Grist · The Buffoon Desk

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Fiddles McGinty

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Diesel prices hit a national average of $6.52 a gallon this week, driven up nearly 80 percent since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran, and President Trump told the UN General Assembly he has ‘called for’ an export ban to bring relief.

The U.S. exports about 1.6 million of the 5 million barrels of distillate fuel it produces daily, even as domestic reserves sit at their lowest since 1882, prompting bipartisan calls from lawmakers including Grassley and Hinson to keep more fuel at home.

Just before Trump's remarks, a White House official told reporters the administration was not considering an export ban, and oil-state Republicans like Cornyn called the idea a gimmick; even analysts disagree on whether it would move prices at all, since diesel is priced globally, not just domestically.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

So the boss says he's called for a ban and the staff says nobody's considering one. You can hold both of those in your head if you don't think about it too hard. Meanwhile the reserves are thinner than they've been since 1882, which is a long time to go without checking the tank, and a man hollering about exports from a podium is not the same as a gallon of fuel showing up cheaper at the pump.

Source: Read the original at Grist → Scored: Fiddles McGinty · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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