Part 4 of our ongoing series sharing expert perspectives on why a diesel export ban (or a ban on U.S. crude oil or any American-made fuels) would backfire spectacularly:
“Of the 8 million barrels of diesel traded globally by sea each day, the U.S. supplies about 1.5 million of them — about 20%. An export ban would remove the single largest source of global diesel from the market, and the consequences could be catastrophic.”
— Mason Hamilton, American Petroleum Institute, 9/22/26
“Policymakers are searching for relief from record diesel prices, but an export ban would not deliver it. Diesel prices are set in a global market. Restricting U.S. exports would shrink worldwide supply and risk even higher prices at home, without touching the wars and refinery outages that caused the spike.”
— Willa Shannon, Independent Petroleum Association of America, 9/22/26
“In the short term [after a diesel export ban], US prices would drop; those in other countries would rise. But where to store all that extra diesel? By way of reference, current US stocks of middle distillates, which include diesel, are about 70mn barrels below their weekly peak, according to the Energy Information Administration. And once diesel storage is full, plants would need to cut the overall amount of crude they refine, leading to a tighter market for all products including gasoline.”
— Camilla Palladino, Financial Times, 9/23/26
“An export ban would hurt Americans. U.S. refiners make ~5.3M barrels a day. Americans use ~3.6M. If we ban exports, refiners won't stockpile the surplus, they’ll just cut production. Lower supply means higher prices.”
— Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, 9/22/26
“The United States is a global energy superpower. An export ban on diesel would force refiners to manufacture less, hurting manufacturers and consumers. And energy trade goes both ways: we export diesel while importing other fuels, including gasoline. Cutting off our trading partners risks disrupting that system.”
— National Association of Manufacturers, 9/23/26
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) is the leading trade association representing the makers of the fuels that keep us moving, the petrochemicals that are the essential building blocks for modern life, and the midstream companies that get our feedstocks and products where they need to go. We make the products that make life better, safer and more sustainable — we make progress.
