The world’s wealthiest industrial nations agreed on Friday to release diesel from their reserve stockpiles to help ease a growing crisis over record-high prices driven mostly by the war in Iran.
Under the plan, the Group of 7 nations — the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Britain and Canada — will release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from their strategic stockpiles over the coming four. The effort will be coordinated by the International Energy Agency.
Calling the plan “decisive, coordinated measures to stabilize immediate energy supplies” and curb price spikes, the Group of 7 nations said in a statement that they also will make a “substantial” release of diesel within 20 days.
The decision comes amid threats by President Trump to impose a ban on the export of U.S. diesel, a move that has drawn fierce opposition from both American oil companies and European leaders.
The price of diesel futures in the United States fell 8 percent on Friday morning.
“Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil,” Mr. Trump said on social media.
China, another big diesel supplier, recently started restricting fuel exports again. So far, Mr. Trump has not followed suit. The more time passes, the less effective a U.S. export ban would be at lowering domestic diesel prices before the November elections. It also would risk pushing up the price of gasoline, which fuels many more vehicles in the United States.
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