GOP senators 'clash' as Trump’s 'double whammy' sparks red state backlash

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 15, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

Economists are warning that soaring diesel prices will make a wide variety of products more expensive. In response, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), according to The Hill's Alexander Bolton, is on board with a proposal to "embargo the export of diesel to increase supply and lower prices at home." But that proposal, Bolton reports, is setting off an intense "clash" among Senate Republicans.

"Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is open to the idea," Bolton explains in The Hill, "but oil-state Republicans have slammed the proposal as a 'gimmick.' The soaring cost of diesel is putting political pressure on Republicans in farm states such as Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, where Democrats now have a chance to win Senate seats that weren't viewed as competitive a year ago."

Bolton adds, "The double whammy of President Trump's global trade war, which has impacted commodities such as pork and soybeans, and the mounting cost of fuel and fertilizer has put farmers in a foul mood, and some Senate Republicans fear an angry backlash in key red states."

In a September 19 post on X, Grassley wrote, "W diesel $6.57 in Iowa why doesn't Pres Trump put an embargo on diesel exports like presidents in the 70s put embargoes on ag products bc food prices were inflated. High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME."

Thune argued, "The export ban, honestly, makes probably more sense to me. I think that suspending the (gas) tax is a short-term thing and then you create holes in the Highway Trust Fund."

But Senate Republicans have a variety of views on the proposal.

Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) complained, "It's a gimmick." And Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is skeptical, telling The Hill, "We actually produce more than we consume here, produce more diesel in this country than we consume. We're talking about global supply, so I worry that we do something in the short-term … that doesn't really move the needle."

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) is expressing skepticism as well.

Rounds told The Hill, "I'd want to see how they would do it. The bigger problem we've got right now is, as I understand it, in California, we've already lost two more refineries because of California's strict environmental rules. They've shut down two more refineries. I would like to get those back up and operational again."

Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, believes that the proposal would make diesel prices higher, not lower.

On X, Sommers tweeted, "Americans are hurting from rising diesel prices, and policymakers are understandably searching for answers. But restricting U.S. diesel exports would make the problem worse, not better — for consumers, farmers and the broader U.S. economy."

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