{"id":859321,"date":"2026-09-24T19:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859321\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T19:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:44:19","slug":"eu-says-trump-plan-to-ban-us-diesel-exports-would-negatively-impact-both-sides-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/859321\/","title":{"rendered":"EU says Trump plan to ban US diesel exports would \u2018negatively impact both sides\u2019 | Oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The EU has warned Donald Trump against plans to ban US diesel exports to the global market, saying the move would negatively affect Europe<\/a> and the US.<\/p>\n

The European Commission has reacted with \u201cconcern\u201d to reports<\/a> this week that the US president could prevent diesel from reaching the global market.<\/p>\n

Trump is reportedly considering a 90-day export ban to provide a temporary respite from high pump prices for US households before the midterm elections, after US diesel reached a record average of $6.52 (\u00a34.93) a gallon. \u201cI\u2019ve \u200bsaid let\u2019s not send \u200cout the diesel. \u200cWe make a lot of diesel \u2026 I\u2019ve called for it. \u200cI\u2019ve called for it within my people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the EU\u2019s executive arm, said on Thursday \u201cany disruption would risk negatively impacting both sides\u201d and the EU expected \u201cclose partners to consult each other before taking measures that affect shared markets\u201d.<\/p>\n

The EU made the diplomatic intervention as experts said that the potential export ban could be \u201cdevastating\u201d for Europe, and traders scrambled to assess the continent\u2019s reliance on imports from the US.<\/p>\n

The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has warned that banning exports was a \u201cblunt tool\u201d that could harm US fuel supplies in the long term.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For Europe, the ban could be far more damaging. US diesel exports have made up a third of the continent\u2019s imports this year, as supplies from war-damaged refineries in the Middle East and Russia have plummeted. By August, the US supplied about half of Europe\u2019s diesel imports.<\/p>\n

Pump prices have already climbed to record highs across Germany and the Netherlands, leading to calls for political leaders to protect households from rising costs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the UK, motorists may be only days away from fresh all-time highs, raising concerns over the economic impact of further price hikes for hard-pressed households. The RAC said the average cost of diesel was 197.75p a litre on Thursday, up from 142.38p before the start of the Iran war.<\/p>\n

\u201cA US export ban would be devastating for diesel supply in Europe, which would struggle to replace supply,\u201d said Josh Michalowski, the head of European diesel pricing at Argus Media, a commodities data provider.<\/p>\n

Diesel prices in some parts of the UK have passed \u00a32 a litre \u2013\u00a0and reached \u00a32.17 a litre at BP Kinross Services in Perthshire, Scotland. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Fuel stations across Europe are unlikely to run dry, because Europe produces about 70% of the diesel it consumes from domestic refineries. It also stores fuels in reserve. But experts fear that competing for cargoes on the global market would lead to higher market prices.<\/p>\n

So far the market for diesel cargoes has remained relatively quiet since reports of a potential US diesel ban emerged this week, according to Benedict George, the head of European products at Argus. He said traders were still weighing up the degree to which the White House might limit US exports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this prospect became even relatively serious [in the White House], it would be very serious for European markets. There would be some degree of panic given how reliant buyers have become on US cargoes,\u201d George said. \u201cThere\u2019s enough European diesel production to ensure that we wouldn\u2019t run out, but losing US cargoes would mean buyers would have to compete with buyers in Asia for the few available cargoes from the Middle East and India, in what is already a very competitive global market.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The price of diesel has outpaced the rising price of global oil markets due to severe disruption to refineries in the Gulf and in Russia. The price difference \u2013 known as the \u201ccrack spread\u201d \u2013 reached a record high earlier this month and could climb further still.<\/p>\n

\u201cA US ban on diesel exports would pose a significant challenge for the UK, given the country\u2019s growing reliance on American refined fuel,\u201d said Thomas Pugh, the chief economist at the audit, tax and consulting firm RSM UK.<\/p>\n

The Fawley oil refinery in Hampshire is one of only four remaining refineries in the UK. Photograph: Graham Mulrooney\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The UK has only four operating oil refineries after the closures of Grangemouth and Lindsey last year. Both produced diesel for the UK market. Pugh warned that losing almost 90,000 barrels a day of US distillate, or 18% of the country\u2019s total consumption, would leave the UK even more exposed to global diesel prices. He added that, while shortages of fuel were unlikely immediately, a longer-term ban would make them a \u201creal possibility\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although the number of motorists driving diesel passenger vehicles has fallen, it remains the lifeblood of the UK\u2019s agricultural and logistics sectors by fuelling heavy machinery, lorries and vans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The European Commission spokesperson said: \u201cHigh-level contacts between the European Union<\/a> and the US administration are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A UK government spokesperson said: \u201cForecourts in the UK are being supplied with petrol and diesel as normal and we have a diverse and resilient supply. We continue to engage with our international partners and the UK fuel industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The EU has warned Donald Trump against plans to ban US diesel exports to the global market, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-859321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}