Trump says Russia to supply diesel to US and global markets

Highlights:

• Russia to supply 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately, with more later, Trump says
• Move comes ahead of 3 November midterm elections
• US diesel prices hit $6.28 a gallon on Thursday, AAA says
• Zelenskiy says gifts to Putin will not bring peace

President Donald Trump said on Friday that Russia had agreed to supply diesel to global markets in an effort to lower fuel prices, and his administration temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenues for its war on Ukraine.

Prices for diesel, used in agriculture, home heating and trucking, are near a record and pose a risk for Trump's fellow Republicans ahead of the 3 November congressional elections that will determine whether they maintain their narrow control of Congress. Diesel prices fell after the announcement, but analysts said the deal might not be enough to keep them down.

Trump said on social media that he had a "highly successful" discussion with President Vladimir Putin in which they agreed that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tonnes of diesel to US and global markets, equal to about 2.25 million barrels of fuel. The US exports about 1.5 million barrels of diesel per day.

After the call, an envoy for Putin, Kirill Dmitriev, praised cooperation between Russia and the US in a post on X. Dmitriev asked US officials during his visit to Washington last month for licences to export diesel to the US market to be granted to all major Russian oil firms, sources familiar with the situation said.

In October 2025, the US imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies over Moscow's war, which began in 2022. The diesel exports could provide Moscow with billions of dollars in revenues that could help Putin continue the war against Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised the deal, announced while a Ukrainian delegation was in the US to discuss how to seek a resolution to the war, as a "weak decision on the part of strong partners".

"Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilised world. Russia will 'repay' the diesel with further terror and perfidy," he said on X.

The deal was also criticised by US lawmakers, including Trump's fellow Republican, Representative Don Bacon, who said it was time to apply more sanctions that Congress had passed recently, not lift the measures.

"Now is the time to use those sanctions to squeeze Putin's war machine, not reward a dictator by putting more money in his hands while he continues targeting and killing Ukrainian civilians," Bacon said on X.

The US Treasury Department issued a licence allowing imports of Russian diesel until 7 April.

Trump said Russia would supply another 500,000 tonnes in November and a further 1 million tonnes "immediately thereafter". Even more would follow, Trump said, "based on the condition of their diesel refineries", which have been damaged by Ukrainian attacks.

'Nothing burger'

Analysts said the agreement was unlikely to lead to sustained lower fuel prices. "I cannot overstate how much of a nothing burger this is," Rory Johnston, an oil market researcher and founder of CommodityContext.com, said on X, adding that Russia usually exports much more diesel than the volumes in the deal when its refinery fleet is not under attack.

"It's clearly not a fix, but another stream to aid a very tight diesel market," said Jim Mitchell, an analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Diesel prices, which are often a major driver of inflation, are up 70% since the US and Israel launched the war with Iran on 28 February. The wars in Iran and Ukraine have triggered a severe global fuel supply crunch, pushing average US diesel prices to $6.28 a gallon on Thursday, according to the AAA motorist group.

Prices have remained high despite two recent moves by Trump to boost fuel supplies: pressuring allies to release emergency reserves and expanding access to tax-exempt red-dyed diesel, which is normally used for farm equipment.

US diesel futures fell almost 5% following news of the deal and were trading at $4.64 a gallon.

"Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority," Trump said.

Defence Production Act

Three industry sources said earlier on Friday that Trump would issue a directive in the coming days to some US department heads to find ways to control diesel prices.

The directive, which they said could take the form of a presidential memo, would push officials to find ways to bypass local and state regulations blocking energy production and use the Cold War-era Defence Production Act to increase oil and fuel output.

Under the DPA, the president can authorise US-backed loans or loan guarantees to expand domestic manufacturing of critical materials and require companies to prioritise government contracts for essential goods.

The White House has been weighing how to use the DPA to expand refining capacity as the war with Iran exposes US vulnerability to supply disruptions and price spikes.

Refining executives told administration officials last month that federal money would be better directed towards making refineries more efficient or expanding existing plants rather than financing a new refinery, which would be more costly and take years to complete.