In a stunning display of economic wizardry, President Trump has unveiled his latest policy innovation: banning diesel exports to magically lower gas prices before November. Forget the Federal Reserve, supply chains, or global commodity markets—the real solution was apparently just one executive order away.
The proposal is so elegantly simple it borders on genius. By preventing diesel from leaving the country, prices will plummet like a unicorn dive-bombing into a rainbow. Europe, currently dependent on US fuel supplies, will simply have to figure it out. Perhaps they too will discover the mythical unicorn-powered truck technology that this ban will surely unlock.
Economists—those killjoys—are muttering something about how banning exports typically tightens domestic supplies and raises prices, not lowers them. But why listen to boring reality when you can believe that geopolitical fuel wars are just theater, and that refinery capacity magically expands when you really need it?
The cherry on top: this policy arrives just as Europe scrambles to secure alternative energy sources. Surely no unintended consequences will follow from cutting off a major trading partner’s fuel supply weeks before an election. No sir. Only enchanted vehicles and lower pump prices as far as the eye can see.
Welcome to economic policy by punchline. Reality called—it’s still on hold.