EU officials cautiously optimistic US will not ban diesel exports amid rising prices

DUBLIN — EU officials were cautiously optimistic on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump would reverse his threat to ban diesel exports for ninety days to combat rising prices.

Speaking to journalists, Irish Minister for Energy Darragh O'Brien said Trump administration officials in Washington had assured him the previous week that such a ban was unlikely. O'Brien made the remark ahead of a meeting in Dublin on Tuesday between European energy ministers — the Irish government currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"It is clear that a ninety-day diesel ban would have noticeable repercussions for us in the EU," O'Brien estimated. However, "based on the information I gathered in Washington last week, there does not appear to be willingness to pursue this".

At the same Dublin meeting, European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen welcomed public statements by US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright that a diesel export ban would not work.

Last week, Trump appeared to endorse the idea of temporarily blocking exports of this fuel as prices rose due to the Iran war and restrictions Moscow imposed on its own exports following Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.

Such a move would send shockwaves through European energy markets, with US diesel accounting for over 50% of EU diesel imports and 10% of its consumption, according to S&P Global Energy.

"We will remain vigilant," O'Brien promised. "But when talking with other administration members, it does not seem likely to happen. I think [it] would have repercussions for the United States themselves, the diesel ban, as well as on other fuels."

This article was first published by POLITICO in English, then edited in French by Jean-Christophe Catalon.