Trump Economic Advisers Don’t View High Oil Prices as All Bad

Higher oil prices may not always be a bad thing for the U.S. economy, according to a White House report.

Despite President Donald J. Trump’s tweets about oil prices being “artificially Very High,” his own advisers suggest the U.S. may eventually benefit from more costly crude.

“If the United States becomes an annual net exporter of petroleum, higher oil prices would, on average, help the U.S. economy,” the Council of Economic Advisers said in annual economic report posted online Tuesday. “In this case, the net gains for producers, and to their private partners that own mineral deposits, would outweigh the higher costs for consumers. Such a change would have a number of important policy implications.”

The Energy Information Administration has said that the U.S. will become a regular net oil exporter by the end of 2020.