Trump backs considering a US diesel export ban as prices rise

President Donald Trump has backed the idea of stopping US diesel exports, and his administration is examining whether a full or partial ban is feasible. The proposal could keep more fuel in the United States as diesel prices rise, but it could also remove a major source of supply for buyers abroad. No ban or start date is established in the published reports.

At the United Nations on September 22, Trump told reporters: ‘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,’ according to Reuters. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said officials were assessing whether a ban could work and whether it should cover all exports or only some of them. Those are questions under review, rather than terms of a settled policy.

Why diesel supply is under pressure

The US Energy Information Administration's September outlook describes a tight market before any proposed export restriction. It forecast that US distillate inventories, which include fuel often sold as diesel, would fall below 100 million barrels in September and stay below the low end of their 2021–2025 range through the end of 2026 and most of 2027. That inventory figure is a forecast, not a final September measurement.

The EIA said inventories had already fallen below their five-year range in April. That coincided with high US net exports after large amounts of distillate supply were lost from the Middle East, Russia and China. It said net exports had been above or near their five-year high in every month of 2026 since February. Low inventories, the agency said, contribute to higher domestic diesel prices.

What could change for US buyers

A ban could redirect fuel that refiners would otherwise sell overseas into the domestic market. The BBC reports that US refineries produce roughly four million to five million barrels of diesel a day, while Americans use about 3.6 million barrels and refiners export roughly 1.2 million to 1.5 million barrels. Those rounded figures describe the scale of the trade; they are not a measurement of how much fuel a ban would actually add to US supplies.

More domestic supply might ease prices initially, but the size and duration of any benefit remain uncertain. The BBC reports that diesel mainly powers US freight trucks, farm machinery and cargo trains. Its price can therefore affect the cost of moving goods and operating farms and construction equipment. A lower pump price would matter to those users, but the published material does not establish what any future restriction would do to their bills.

The EIA's outlook also shows why an export decision would not settle every cause of high prices. It links tight global distillate markets to reduced international refinery production and says higher global prices encourage US exports. Its forecast assumed tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would return to normal in the near term; if constraints persist beyond 2026, it expected global distillate refining margins to be higher than forecast.

The exposure for overseas buyers

Overseas customers would have to replace any US barrels withheld from export. The BBC says about 60% to 70% of US diesel exports go to Latin America, naming Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador among buyers that rely on American shipments. It also identifies France, the Netherlands and the UK as destinations. How much supply any country would lose depends on whether officials choose a full ban, a partial restriction or no measure at all.

UK Chancellor John Healey told the BBC that the UK was talking with US authorities about a possible ban and had begun preparing for it. The report does not establish the result of those talks. His comments show that an importing country is assessing the proposal, but they do not show that shipments have stopped or that an export policy has been decided.

David Fyfe, chief economist at Argus Media, warned in the BBC's report that cutting US supply could drive international diesel prices higher, increasing freight, food and industrial costs and ‘feeding inflation back into the global economy’. Argus analytics manager Sarah Raffoul said higher prices could eventually reduce demand, while an immediate supply gap could strain trade relationships and accelerate inflation. Both assessments concern possible effects, not observed consequences of a ban.