Playing electoral politics, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (SD) said that he was “open to considering” a ban on export of diesel fuel from the United States. This would push up diesel prices further in other nations, bringing a food crisis closer, while it would only briefly lower them in the United States; i.e., simply to rescue the GOP for the November elections. The super-high global diesel prices would then feed inflation back into America.

China continues to increase its exports of all fuel products, after having briefly halted them six months ago in order to assure its own reserves. In August, China’s diesel exports increased by the largest amount of all distillates, rising by 42.1% compared to August of 2025. Aviation fuel exports rose by 41%. For the range of distillates overall, exports from China rose by 12.7% over August 2025.