Farmers Face Record Diesel Prices Amid Calls for Export Ban

U.S. farmers are facing record-high fuel expenses as they prepare for the fall harvest, and politicians are calling on the Trump Administration to impose a temporary ban on diesel exports.

The average U.S. diesel price has soared to nearly $6.50 per gallon this week, with farmers paying about twice as much as last year to fuel tractors, combines, and grain trucks.

Senators Jeff Landry of Louisiana, John Thune of South Dakota, and Chuck Grassley of Iowa have all expressed support for a ban on diesel exports, which they believe could drive down prices.

However, energy experts warn that imposing export limits could backfire, as it did in the 1970s when a blanket ban on exporting 'anything that looked like a hydrocarbon' paralysed the domestic market.