Trump withdraws the proposal: The U.S. will not ban oil exports, I appreciate Europe’s decision

U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Friday that the United States will not impose a ban on oil exports, while welcoming a decision by European countries to release fuel from their reserves.

“Well, that was never on the table. But what Europe did was a great thing,” Trump said at the White House when an AFP journalist asked whether a U.S. export ban was now off the table.

“I asked for it. Europe has a lot of oil and they will make a great contribution to the world, and so will we. And we will not do the export ban; we will do what we have to do,” he stressed.

Trump had first said he supported an oil export ban — which would have lowered prices for American consumers but would put pressure on supplies in other countries of the world — on 22 September.

He had said only on Thursday that the United States was still considering the idea, as his administration puts pressure on Europe to tap its supplies.

The G7 countries agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil and crude from their reserves over four months to ease global concerns over energy supplies fuelled by Iran’s war.

Trump’s Republican Party faces losing control of Congress in next month’s midterm elections, because of voter anger over the conflict and its effect on energy prices.