Why Trump's Plan to Lower Fuel Prices Makes No Sense

Would a diesel export ban actually lower fuel prices? The White House is floating a temporary ban on U.S. diesel exports, and the pitch sounds simple: keep the diesel here, and prices fall for farmers and truckers. In this episode, Justin Wolfers walks through why that story falls apart the moment you follow the economics. A fuel storage tank is actually a time machine. A 90-day ban that ends right after the midterms gives refiners every reason to sit on their diesel and sell it into a hungry world market later, so cheap diesel near a Texas terminal never reaches a farmer in Iowa or a trucker in Pennsylvania. Worse, refineries make diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel together like a butcher works a whole cow. An export ban hurts refineries, and they could transfer the costs to their other products. This policy helps businesses, but also raises costs on parents filling up the family minivan. Chapters: 0:00 A 90-day diesel export ban 0:25 Sanctions logic, aimed at ourselves 2:30 Five points on the economics 5:04 The tank as a time machine 7:15 Refineries are like a cow 9:23 Why gasoline gets more expensive 11:49 Farmers win, drivers lose 13:05 The actual global shortage 16:10 Three questions to ask next time Subscribe — it's the one thing here that won't quietly wait in a tank for a higher price: on YouTube 👉    / platypuseconomics   on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers