White House Denies 90-Day Diesel Export Ban Is Coming

Politico reported Wednesday that the administration was preparing a three-month stop to diesel shipments abroad, attributing the account to five people familiar with the talks. Reuters said it was unable to confirm that report on its own. A White House official subsequently denied that a flat, temporary ban was under consideration.

AAA put the national diesel price at $6.52 a gallon on September 23, up from $5.61 the previous month and $3.69 twelve months prior.

Trump endorsed the concept on Tuesday. "I've said let's not send out the diesel," he said, noting that he had brought it up with his administration. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration was studying the feasibility of a full or partial ban. Those remarks preceded the report the White House now disputes.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright took a different position. Speaking Wednesday, he argued that an across-the-board export ban would not work and risked driving gasoline and jet fuel prices up. His worry is that curbing diesel exports could lead refiners to run less crude oil through their plants, which would squeeze the supply of the other fuels produced from that same crude.

According to Wright, the administration is instead weighing voluntary arrangements with refiners to boost domestic diesel supplies. He laid out no specifics and said nothing had been decided.

Markets moved before that answer arrived. Reuters reported that October ultra-low-sulfur diesel futures had slipped roughly 4 percent Wednesday after a decline of more than 6 percent earlier in the session.

For now, no export ban has been announced, and no alternative has been finalized. What remains is a president who favors the plan, an energy secretary cautioning that it could push other fuel costs up, and a White House rejecting the idea that a three-month halt is in the works. Diesel owners continue to pay upward of $6.50 a gallon.

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