CDN NEWS | 
US NEWS 
Governments are facing US pressure to release some diesel reserves
The transatlantic relationship has run into a fresh roadblock — this time over energy. As diesel prices soar, US President Donald Trump has been pressuring European governments to release some of their strategic fuel reserves, threatening an export ban if they don’t play ball.
“We’d love to have a collaborative response to this,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told us. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was more forthright, saying Europe should speed up delivery of existing commitments and “make additional supplies immediately available.”
Europe, it now seems, is taking the American hectoring seriously. As John Ainger reports from Brussels, France presented a proposal today during a virtual meeting of the EU’s energy coordination group to release 100 million barrels of petroleum product — 50 million of diesel from Europe and 50 million of crude from International Energy Agency (IEA) member nations.
EU ambassadors have meanwhile been summoned to an unscheduled meeting later today in Brussels for talks on the diesel market.
That’s after French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Trump and Canada’s Mark Carney overnight, and convened a G-7 meeting this afternoon to discuss the escalating crisis. There were also high-level talks yesterday between the European Commission and France, Italy, Germany and Ireland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
After energy prices surged following the eruption of war in the Middle East, Europe has moved slower than the US in dispensing oil stocks, with Germany and Spain initially signaling reluctance to release more barrels. Germany’s economy ministry said any measures must be based on a “careful joint assessment of the situation” within international procedures, noting that Germany’s supply of crude and petroleum products is secure.
A major reason Trump is seeking to bring down prices is that the spiraling cost of fuel at the pump threatens to derail Republican hopes in next month’s mid-term elections. But his talk of an export ban is also drawing strong pushback from American energy companies.
As European countries, including the UK, scramble to respond to Trump’s demands, data published today showed the scale of the challenge facing Europe as it grapples with the energy-price surge.
Euro-zone inflation quickened more than expected to the highest in three years last month, bolstering expectations that the ECB will lift interest rates further.
Share This:
