(CNN) - Fuel prices have reached historically high levels, and voters in America are directing their anger at President Donald Trump and the Republicans.
Trump is launching a campaign in the final moments of the midterm elections to calm discontent among farmers, truckers and drivers who are exhausted by the $4 gasoline price and the price of diesel, which is approaching record levels.
Over the past few weeks, Trump administration officials have unveiled a wide range of steps, including providing $8 billion in financial support to farmers, introducing a controversial plan to import diesel from Russia, allowing truckers to use red-dyed diesel, and developing ways to replenish the aging fleet of oil tankers that operate in the so-called “dark fleet.”
The frantic, last-minute effort to contain the fallout from energy prices is an implicit admission that the war with Iran has exacerbated the American public's years of frustration with the high cost of living. This is a problem that Trump had promised to solve from day one.
“It sounds like panic, and the reason is they're already panicking,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank. “They don't have the power to change the price of diesel in the next 14 days, so they can only hope to convince voters to give them another chance.”
Some of the Trump administration's actions may be helpful, but none of them will give voters what they crave: cheap fuel, whether gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.
“There are no silver bullets here,” said Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush. “None of them will address the fundamental problem.”
McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group, said Republicans and Democrats alike are looking everywhere for solutions.
He added: “There is nothing that terrifies a sitting president more than rising gas prices – especially in an election year. I must say that I commend this administration; "It puts forth more comprehensive investigative efforts than most others."
(Another) rescue plan for farmers
The latest move came Monday evening, during a campaign tour in Kansas, where Trump announced an $8 billion support package for farmers.
The USDA said the one-time payments to US farmers during this harvest season will provide "burden relief in light of temporary market disruptions and higher production input costs."
Diesel prices rose sharply, from $3.76 a gallon nationally before the war, reaching an all-time high of $6.53 a gallon in late September.
The rise has been particularly painful for farmers, who need diesel fuel to power their tractors and other farm equipment and also rely on diesel-powered trucks to transport their food crops to markets.
Consider that a typical farm in Kansas last year spent about $31,000 on diesel fuel; That's a huge cost that could double this year, according to Greg Ebendahl, associate professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University.
“Farming has become much more expensive — and it was already expensive,” Eppendahl said.
Along with the sharp rise in diesel prices, farmers face rising costs for fertilisers, another essential input that has become more expensive due to the war with Iran.
Details regarding the $8 billion farmer bailout plan remain vague. The US Department of Agriculture says it will not announce payment rates to farmers until next month, but experts believe that this aid appears to be of real importance.
Gabriel Ladd, a professor of agricultural economics at Ohio State University, said the $8 billion rescue package would provide a "good amount" to farmers, but he warned that exceptional payments of this kind often lack precise targeting toward those actually eligible.
“Some farmers may make gains, while others will still be left behind,” Ladd said.
The Trump administration's plan to support farmers with fuel costs comes less than a year after the federal government paid $12 billion to farmers through the Farmer Assistance Program.
These farmer bailouts have become a feature of America's agricultural economy, Leed said.
“We are stuck in a situation where trade wars are driving down output prices, while actual wars are now driving up input prices,” Lead added.
Diesel from Russia
Trump's plan to import diesel from Russia has sparked opposition from both parties, along with skepticism from researchers who see it as nothing more than a temporary and superficial solution.
The initial plan includes importing about 2.2 million barrels of diesel, which is a very small amount compared to the approximately 4 million barrels that the United States consumes daily (including heating oil).
“If we imported all those barrels in one day, it would only last us until around lunchtime,” said Robert Jawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities.
Diesel prices are a few cents higher today than they were when Trump announced the plan, reinforcing doubts about whether Russia's war-weary refining sector has the actual capacity to increase exports.
Colored diesel for truck drivers
At a campaign event in Nebraska earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order allowing truck drivers to use cheaper red-tinted diesel typically reserved for farmers.
Analysts said that this step may be beneficial for heavy truck drivers. It will temporarily exempt them from the federal tax of 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel used on highways.
However, they cautioned that this would not constitute a radical shift; Because states also impose taxes on diesel fuel used on highways. Some states have suspended their taxes on diesel, while others have not.
This creates complications and risks for truck drivers crossing state borders.
Will the Dark Fleet come to the rescue?
Trump administration officials are also pushing for another unconventional idea aimed at addressing rising fuel prices: bringing the “dark fleet” of sanctioned oil tankers out of the shadows.
The focus on the “dark fleet” is to address the huge rise in shipping costs. Clarksons Research data indicates that the daily cost of renting a giant oil tanker to transport crude from the Arabian Gulf to China has jumped from about $65,000 last year to reach $1.4 million this week.
But operating the Dark Fleet's ships is no easy feat; This requires navigating a maze of legal complexities, convincing insurance companies to participate, and, in many cases, making costly repairs to aging oil tankers.
How to reduce fuel prices
None of the energy policy steps, taken alone or in combination, will make gasoline and diesel cheap again.
The war in Iran, coupled with the Russia-Ukraine war and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, have created a supply chain nightmare that will take a long time to fix.
The head of the International Energy Agency warned on Tuesday that global energy markets may need more than a year to return to normal.
