President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the U.S. will defeat Iran swiftly to deter rising diesel costs at the pump, hinting that a federal tax rollback on diesel could be on its way.
Trump Says Diesel Prices Will Come Down
In a clip shared by the official White House Rapid Response handle on X, Trump was asked about a potential rollback on diesel taxes. “It is something I may support,” Trump said. “We’re going to have Iran defeated very quickly,” he added. The President then predicted that oil, as well as diesel “will be falling like a rock” following Iran’s defeat.
“It’s going to be coming down very fast, but it’s something I may do anyway,” Trump said, referring to a potential suspension of federal taxes. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, consumers pay a Federal excise tax of 24.3 cents per gallon of diesel.
Notably, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the national average price of a gallon of diesel on Friday rose just under 1 cent to $6.3261/gallon. In California, the average price of diesel was $8.4898/gallon on Friday, according to AAA data.
Trump’s Russia Diesel Deal
The comments come amid criticism over soaring diesel costs, as well as Trump’s deal with President Vladimir Putin to allow Russia to supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and global markets initially, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and a million tons immediately thereafter
Trump’s deal has received bipartisan pushback from Republican, as well as Democratic Party leaders. SkyBridge Capital founder Anothony Scaramucci also criticized Trump’s shifting stance on Russian oil, saying that Putin was humiliating Trump with every chance.
Red-Dyed Diesel Sales
In a bid to combat soaring costs, Trump also signed an executive order to temporarily allow the sale of red-dyed diesel for highway use in the U.S. earlier this month, in a move that was also hailed by Vice President JD Vance, who credited Trump for his quick solution to deter high prices.
Red-dyed diesel, is essentially diesel that is marked for off-road use in construction sites and agriculture. Red-dyed diesel is normally intended for tax-exempt, off-road uses such as farming and construction. Trump’s Oct. 5 executive order temporarily allows its highway use and directs Treasury to defer certain federal diesel-tax obligations and provide penalty relief through the end of the year.
Gov. Jay Robert ‘JB’ Pritzker (D-IL) also signed an order to allow the sale of red-dyed diesel for road use in Illinois, blaming Trump and the ongoing war in Iran as factors driving prices for consumers.
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