The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Trump:
Over the past two years, your Administration has taken unprecedented steps to unleash American energy dominance. A common thread in your policies has been reducing the government’s role in the energy sector—from lowering taxes on domestic drilling and allowing full, immediate expensing to providing regulatory relief and fostering a strong environment for investment. The undersigned organizations strongly applaud these actions, which have strengthened American energy production and benefited consumers.
As your team weighs its options, we therefore urge you to uphold these principles and avoid a Biden-esque export ban on refined petroleum products. Such a policy would undermine your historic energy agenda while doing little to provide meaningful price relief to consumers at the pump.
A diesel export ban would interfere with the market precisely when energy markets are under extraordinary stress. Diesel is a globally-traded commodity, and its price is ultimately determined by market forces—not government mandates. Restricting exports would disrupt established supply chains, distort market signals, and interfere with refiners’ ability to respond efficiently to changing demand.
It would also fail to deliver the sustained price reductions you might envision. While an export ban might produce a short-lived decline in prices in some parts of the country, those effects would not be felt uniformly. Some regions could actually see an immediate and sharp increase in price, potentially muting a decline in the national average in diesel prices. And, as refiners adjust to the loss of export markets and a disruption to supply chains, the initial price effect would likely fade, potentially leaving consumers facing higher prices as the market absorbs the disruption.
By restricting refiners’ access to global markets, an export ban would weaken the incentive to maximize diesel production, operate at higher utilization rates, and invest in additional refining capacity. Importantly, the entire world is dealing with a diesel supply crisis and export bans would do nothing to bring more diesel refining supply online.
We recognize that high energy prices are a serious concern for Americans and add to the broader strain of rising costs of living. Unfortunately, until there is a lasting resolution to the global flow of energy through the Middle East, there is no single policy or quick fix that can immediately bring energy costs down.
However, that does not mean there are no meaningful and lasting solutions that the government can take to address the problem. Congress must pass comprehensive permitting reform that allows businesses to safely build energy infrastructure faster and cheaper. Excessive permitting requirements and lengthy approval processes make building much more costly and are partly responsible for why the United States has not built a large-scale refinery in 50 years. Streamlining these processes would make it easier to build refineries and bring more capacity over the long term.
We strongly support your efforts to bring down fuel costs and stand ready to assist in that effort. We urge you to reject export controls that would ultimately raise prices, undermine domestic production, and risk upending global supply chains at the worst possible time.
Sincerely,
CC: Secretary Bessent, Department of Treasury
Secretary Wright, Department of Energy
Secretary Lutnick, Department of Commerce
National Energy Dominance Council