Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley called on President Donald Trump, Sept. 19, to ban diesel fuel exports from the United States as was done for agricultural products in the 1970s, by President Nixon. Grassley said the prices of diesel and other fuels are “KILLING FARMERS’ INCOME.” It’s not clear whether the Senator’s “all-caps” came from him imitating Trump, from Yahoo News, or from CNBC’s writeup of its interview with Grassley on Saturday.

Soybean exports were banned by Nixon in 1972. But diesel fuel is an all-of-agriculture emergency, now at $6.51/gallon national average, having risen steadily all week while the price of crude oil actually dropped; diesel is now 74% higher in price than one year ago. Other oil products, like jet fuel, gasoline, and heating oil are all 50% or more above their year-ago prices. American households have spent an extra $50 billion on diesel this year, according to Brown University’s Center on the Costs of War, which doubles the cost of Trump’s war on Iran thus far.

Did some agency just say that year-on-year inflation is 3.4%?

The White House referred press sources who asked about Grassley’s demand, to Interior Secretary Doug Burgrum’s comment at the G20 Summit, “I’m not at all confident that that [banning exports] would actually lower the price.” For once, he’s right.

The solution, in fact, is raising refinery capacity worldwide, and neither oil majors nor Western governments have yet shown any inclination to do so.