‘Makes very little economic sense’: Ex-Trump energy secretary warns Trump against diesel export ban

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President Donald Trump says he wants to ban America’s diesel exports, but his former energy secretary tells CNN this is a “bad idea” that will backfire.

“It’s one of those ideas that sounds good on the surface, but when you dig into it, it makes very little economic sense,” said Dan Brouillette, who served in Trump’s Cabinet from 2019 to 2021.

Trump has faced intensifying calls from within his own party to do something to slash sky-high prices for diesel , the workhorse fuel that powers trains, trucks, tractors and construction vehicles.

Echoing what experts have told CNN , Trump’s former energy secretary warned that choking off US diesel exports will encourage refiners to pull back on how much oil they process into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

“Diesel comes from the same barrel of oil that gasoline does. So when you shut down diesel refining, you also shut down gasoline refining, which constrains the market, potentially raising the price of gasoline as well as diesel,” said Brouillette, now a distinguished visiting fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

Even Trump’s current energy secretary, Chris Wright, is pouring cold water on the proposal.

“The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work,” Wright said at an event in New York on Wednesday, according to Reuters .

In other words, a diesel export ban could exacerbate what is already on track to be the biggest annual percentage increase for diesel prices on record.

In the short run, researchers say blocking the 1.5 million barrels of diesel that leave the United States daily could cause diesel prices to tumble – especially along the Gulf Coast and the Midwest, where many US refineries are located.

But that excess diesel would likely be trapped in those areas because, as Brouillette notes, the United States does not have enough pipelines to transport the fuel to the East Coast and West Coast.

“It’s a bad idea. It’s not something you want to impose,” Brouillette said of the proposed export ban.

In the longer run, a US export ban risks incurring a chilling effect on foreign investment, he said. This would undermine the Trump administration’s goal of ramping up US refining capacity by expanding existing refineries, or even building the first major new refinery since 1977 .

“You’re sending a really poor investment signal to those who would invest in the United States to develop this infrastructure,” Brouillette said. “If they can’t count on you to be there, they’re not going to invest their money here.”

Instead of banning US energy from getting sold overseas, Brouillette said the Trump administration should focus on building out energy infrastructure and oil production. This would mean providing tax and environmental incentives as well as ending the Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine war.

A White House official told CNN on Monday that the Trump administration was not considering an export ban or even export restrictions, pointing to comments from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

But on Tuesday, Trump sang a very different tune: He indicated he’s pushed internally for a ban on US diesel exports, when asked about GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley and others calling for such a move.

“I’ve said, ‘Let’s not send out the diesel. We make a lot of diesel,’” Trump told reporters.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday confirmed the administration is “examining” whether a full or partial export ban is “feasible.”

The oil industry, which typically supports the Trump administration, has blasted the talk of an export ban.

“We understand the administration is looking at every option to deliver relief, but restricting US energy exports would only compound the problem — exacerbating refining challenges and ultimately hurting consumers,” Mike Sommers, the president and CEO of the trade association American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement Tuesday.

Brouillette said that if he were still in the Trump administration he would try to talk the president out of an export ban.

“I would argue against the proposal, as I think many have inside of the White House,” he said. “But look, the ultimate decision maker is the president of the United States. The Cabinet is not elected. The president is, and he’s elected by the American people to make these decisions and it’s his right to make them.”

Sven Hoppe/picture alliance/Getty Images/文件

唐纳德·特朗普总统表示，他想禁止美国柴油出口，但他的前能源部长告诉 CNN，这是一个“糟糕的想法”，将会适得其反。

“这听起来似乎是个不错的想法，但当你深入研究时，你会发现它在经济上几乎没有任何意义，”曾在 2019 年至 2021 年担任特朗普内阁成员的丹·布鲁耶特说道。

特朗普面临着来自党内越来越大的呼声，要求他采取措施大幅降低柴油价格，柴油是火车、卡车、拖拉机和工程车辆的主要燃料。

与专家们告诉 CNN 的情况相呼应，特朗普的前能源部长警告说，切断美国柴油出口将促使炼油商减少将石油加工成汽油、柴油和航空燃料的数量。

“柴油和汽油都来自同一桶原油。因此，当你关闭柴油炼制厂时，你也关闭了汽油炼制厂，这会限制市场，并可能导致汽油和柴油价格双双上涨，”布鲁耶特说道，他现在是哥伦比亚大学全球能源政策中心的杰出访问学者。

就连特朗普现任能源部长克里斯·赖特也对这项提议泼了冷水。

据路透社报道，赖特周三在纽约的一个活动上表示：“禁止柴油出口这种简单粗暴的手段肯定行不通。”

换句话说，柴油出口禁令可能会加剧柴油价格的上涨趋势，而柴油价格目前的涨幅已经有望创下历史最大年度百分比涨幅。

研究人员表示，短期内，阻止每天从美国出口的 150 万桶柴油可能会导致柴油价格暴跌——尤其是在墨西哥湾沿岸和中西部地区，因为美国许多炼油厂都位于这些地区。

但过剩的柴油可能会滞留在这些地区，因为正如布鲁耶特指出的那样，美国没有足够的管道将燃料输送到东海岸和西海岸。

“这是个糟糕的主意。这不是你想强加的东西，”布鲁耶特在谈到拟议的出口禁令时说道。

他表示，从长远来看，美国的出口禁令可能会对外国投资产生寒蝉效应。这将破坏特朗普政府通过扩建现有炼油厂，甚至自1977年以来新建首个大型炼油厂来提升美国炼油产能的目标。

布鲁耶特说：“你向那些有意在美国投资建设基础设施的人发出了非常糟糕的投资信号。如果他们不能指望你在这里投资，他们就不会在这里投资。”

布鲁耶特表示，特朗普政府与其禁止美国能源出口海外，不如将重点放在能源基础设施建设和石油生产上。这意味着要提供税收和环境方面的优惠政策，并结束伊朗战争和俄乌战争。

一位白宫官员周一告诉 CNN，特朗普政府没有考虑出口禁令，甚至没有考虑出口限制，并援引了内政部长道格·伯古姆的言论。

但周二，特朗普的态度却截然不同：当被问及共和党参议员查克·格拉斯利和其他人呼吁禁止美国柴油出口时，他表示自己已在内部推动了这项禁令。

“我说过，‘我们不要出口柴油。我们自己就生产很多柴油，’”特朗普告诉记者。

财政部长斯科特·贝森特周二证实，政府正在“研究”全面或部分出口禁令是否“可行”。

一向支持特朗普政府的石油行业强烈抨击了有关出口禁令的言论。

“我们理解政府正在考虑各种方案来提供救济，但限制美国能源出口只会加剧问题——加剧炼油挑战，最终损害消费者利益，”美国石油协会总裁兼首席执行官迈克·萨默斯周二在一份声明中表示。

布鲁耶特表示，如果他还在特朗普政府任职，他会努力劝说总统放弃出口禁令。

“我会反对这项提议，我想白宫内部很多人也会这么想，”他说。“但是，最终的决策者是美国总统。内阁成员不是民选的。总统是民选的，他由美国人民选举产生，有权做出这些决定。”