‘blackmail’: Europe Fumes Against White House Demand For More Diesel

The Trump administration's full-court pressure campaign on Europe to release diesel supplies or face a U.S. export ban heading into the winter has split and angered European leaders, entangled oil companies and raised private charges of "blackmail." It also appears to have worked.

Senior White House officials led a pressure campaign on European governments to open the spigot on their strategic reserves, according to 10 oil industry executives and European government officials who were granted anonymity to describe the negotiations. Their tactics ultimately led to G7 countries announcing they would release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their strategic reserves over the next four months.

Diesel prices have hit record highs because of the war the Trump administration launched against Iran earlier this year and Russia’s war against Ukraine, both of which have caused massive damage to fuel refineries in the Middle East and Europe.

One European diplomat characterized the White House’s demands for a release against the threat of a U.S. export ban explicitly as "blackmail," an official briefed on a call between EU energy officials early Friday told POLITICO.

“EU member states took the U.S. request as blackmail and see it as a broader security issue," the official said.

During that meeting, officials pondered how to appease President Donald Trump without appearing to cave to his threats, and others wondered whether the president could be relied upon not to ban diesel exports even if they did agree to his demands.

Indeed, European diplomats were privately furious at the White House request. Some European capitals — including Berlin — internally pushed back against the demand in emergency talks, saying that the Trump administration’s ultimatum was a ploy to help calm a U.S. electorate angry about high energy prices ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Trump has repeatedly said he was mulling an export ban to bring diesel prices down in the United States.

The arrangement also angered at least one European diesel trader.

“So now they're leaning on [the EU] to bail them out,” the person said, “and they're threatening the U.S. export ban to force them into doing so. Well, that's called blackmail.”

The White House saw things differently, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Friday.

“The Europeans have a different strategic reserve than the U.S.,” Hassett told POLITICO. “They have a massive, massive amount of refined product, especially diesel, and so we think that they have room, probably, to help the world economy right now.”

The overall U.S. approach was “messy,” said one European energy official.

Instead of pressing their demands via the International Energy Agency — the traditional venue for coordinated releases — U.S. officials approached countries bilaterally by phone or in person, circulating ideas and proposals that differed day by day. A request circulated by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday in Berlin called for a release of 120 million barrels, one European official said. Late in the evening the next day, U.S. officials contacted French President Emmanuel Macron directly to demand a release of 100 million barrels, according to another official.

On top of that, Wright approached another senior European energy official to breach the subject informally during a visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting last week, that official told POLITICO.

“It’s a typical U.S. request — they don't go through the official normal channels,” another official complained.

In the end, despite internal resolve Thursday by major EU countries to mount a robust response and “elevate” the matter to the IEA, European leaders caved just a day later. The decision was defensive, according to one senior government official from a G7 country, who agreed the deal helped Trump ahead of the midterms but also protected G7 allies from the threatened export ban.

A senior U.S. official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said European officials must act immediately because "these barrels need to move quickly" and that more action may yet be required.

"We will closely monitor implementation and market conditions," the official said. "If additional diesel releases are needed, the United States expects our partners to be prepared to act."

A White House spokesperson said the moves will bring needed relief from high prices.

"President Trump always negotiates deals that serve the best interests of the American people. This will put more supply on the market and bring diesel prices down," White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said on social media.

Still, some EU diplomats briefed on Friday’s emergency discussions said the move to release fresh barrels wasn’t a real win for the U.S. Instead, they said, it was a reaffirmation of a previous commitment in March to release 400 million barrels — most of which never actually made it to markets in Europe because they were unable to compete with cheaper U.S. crude. Two senior officials agreed that the commitment on Friday was “fake.”

That analysis appears to be at odds with U.S. claims that European countries — particularly Germany and France — were derelict in their duties by only releasing a fraction of their total reserves, which under EU law must cover either 90 days worth of net imports or 61 days of consumption.

Analysts at ClearView Energy Partners in a note Friday pointed to “wiggly” language in the G7 statement that appeared to reference the March release.

“The words ‘commitments that have already been fulfilled’ may suggest some portion of the 100 [million barrels] announced could reflect yet-to-be-delivered collective action volumes,” ClearView said.

Neither is it clear how much of the release will come from the G7, Europe more broadly or other IEA partners, or how much “frontloaded” diesel will be released initially, ClearView said.

Macron pushed back on the idea that the White House had threatened the G7 leaders into raiding their stockpiles.

"The tone of our discussion was not one of threats; it was constructive,” Macron said. “We all committed together to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned. No export ban. … President Trump was very clear on this point."

Wright has publicly argued against an export ban, saying it would ultimately lead to higher fuel prices. Bessent — who Trump told last month to lead a study into how an export ban would impact the economy — also thinks it would be a bad idea to halt U.S. diesel shipments, though he would still carry out Trump’s decision on the matter, multiple people in the U.S. oil industry have said.

Wright and Bessent also met with oil companies executives this past week, said an industry executive and a European official familiar with the meetings. The Cabinet secretaries pressured the executives to reach out to their European counterparts and advise them to release diesel from their stockpiles to force prices down.

“They’re trying to use their industry CEO contacts to put pressure on the EU,” the industry executive said shortly before the G7 announced it would tap its stockpiles. The message from the administration, the person said, was “‘You guys better lean on your friends in the EU or we’re going to fuck you on the ban.’”

The oil industry has been trying to convince the White House that a ban on diesel exports could bring prices down at the pump but would quickly backfire by forcing fuel refiners to slow operations after losing their major overseas markets. It would also cause major economic pain in Europe and Latin America, both customers of U.S. gasoline and diesel.

James Bikales, Charlie Cooper and Joana Lehner contributed to this report.