President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he backed the idea of a ban on diesel exports, which some US politicians are calling for as a way to curb the soaring cost of energy.
Diesel prices have rallied in Europe and the US to record highs as wars in Iran and Ukraine sharply cut exports from some of the biggest producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“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,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking at the same meeting, said the administration was examining whether such a ban was feasible and whether a full or partial ban would work.
Some Republican Senate candidates in the most competitive races for the November 3 mid-term elections this week called for administration to implement the export ban to try to alleviate high costs for Americans.
Trump said he and Zelenskiy would discuss Ukrainian attacks on refining sites in Russia.
“It is a serious hit on the Russians. It’s also a serious hit on the price of diesel,” said Trump, who also told reporters the two leaders would discuss working out a solution to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Trump said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by David Ljunggren)