'We Were Never Going to Do It': Trump Walks Back Diesel Export Ban After G7's 100M-Barrel Dump

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Official U.S. Department of the Treasury portrait, February 2025 — public domain (U.S. government work) via Wikimedia Commons.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Official U.S. Department of the Treasury portrait, February 2025 — public domain (U.S. government work) via Wikimedia Commons.

One week he floated cutting off U.S. diesel exports. The next day the G7 opened 100 million barrels — diesel first — and he told reporters the ban "was never really on the table."

That is the midterm fuel ledger President Donald Trump left Friday: a threat used as leverage, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning that American farmers and truckers should not carry the price spike alone, a coordinated International Energy Agency release that begins immediately, and a presidential walk-back once Europe moved.

AAA's national diesel average was about $6.37 on Friday after a record $6.52 on Sept. 22, Fortune reported. Diesel feeds haulage and agriculture, so the spike hits food and freight before it hits a campaign ad.

Threat, pressure, then the walk-back

Trump had backed a U.S. diesel export ban early last week and was still weighing it Thursday as his administration pressed Europe to tap its stocks, the BBC reported. A ban would have aimed to ease domestic pump and haulage prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms — and push prices higher for importers of American diesel, including the United Kingdom.

Bessent argued U.S. farmers, truckers, and businesses "should not be left carrying the burden," the BBC said. After an overnight call with French President Emmanuel Macron, who holds the G7 rotating presidency, Macron chaired a G7 videoconference Friday; Trump called in to push the European release, Fortune reported, citing a White House official.

On Truth Social, Trump said Europe would release "a massive amount" of diesel "immediately." At the White House he said "we were never going to do it" and "We're not going to be doing the export ban," Fortune reported. The BBC quoted him saying the ban was "never really on the table," and calling Europe's move "a great thing."

The G7 statement closed the door both ways: members agreed to refrain from export restrictions on energy and energy products between G7 countries, per the BBC, Fortune, and the official Consilium release.

100 million barrels — diesel first

G7 leaders said they would implement a coordinated IEA release of 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products beginning immediately over four months, including a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days," the joint statement said. Macron said the volumes should add liquidity and bring prices down, Fortune reported.

The move follows a March IEA pledge of 426 million barrels; EU countries had already committed about 92 million barrels weighted toward refined products such as diesel, Fortune noted. Analysts asked whether Friday's 100 million is additive or the final portion of that pledge — Raymond James' Pavel Molchanov flagged the lack of clarity.

Michael Lynch of the Energy Policy Research Foundation told Fortune a European diesel release might mean fewer U.S. diesel exports and could lower prices 25 to 50 cents a gallon after a few weeks. Jim Krane of Rice University's Baker Institute warned draining stocks can cut retail prices "at the cost of leaving Europe with less emergency cover," with no clear refill path while wars still hit refineries and export routes.

What the pump still has to prove before Nov. 3

For Indiana farms and trucking lanes, the test is not the Truth Social victory lap. It is whether diesel at the pump and the farm tank actually moves before Election Day — and how much emergency stock Europe spends to get there.

Indiana already has a separate, short state window of gas-tax and dyed-diesel farm relief under a Braun executive order renewing through early November, covered previously by the Hoosier Enquirer and reported by the Indiana Capital Chronicle — state relief that does not answer whether the G7 release clears the national diesel spike.

Oil prices dipped briefly on the announcement, then recovered amid Yemen and Red Sea risk, the BBC reported. Trump used an export-ban threat to force Europe's hand, Bessent named farmers and truckers as the people who should not carry the load alone, the G7 put 100 million barrels on a four-month clock with diesel front-loaded, and then the president said the ban was never really on the table. The remaining question is on the pump receipt — and on how thin Europe's emergency cover gets before Nov. 3.

Reporting: BBC; Fortune; G7/Consilium; Washington Post. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.