Here's an economic truth that fossil fuel detractors rarely talk about: The U.S. oil industry has done more to reduce its country’s trade deficit than any other.
Thanks to geological luck, engineering prowess and shrewd capitalism, the shale revolution turned what two decades ago was a nearly $400 billion-a-year oil trade deficit into a $45 billion surplus in 2024. Now, U.S. President Donald Trump, in theory the champion of "drill, baby, drill,” risks killing it.
The White House wants or wanted to push oil prices toward $50 a barrel, and perhaps even lower if you believe — difficult as it is — what U.S. trade czar Peter Navarro says. As oil prices plunged 17% in a week recently (only to have since marginally risen), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on television cheerleading the crash. Part of the decline is the collateral damage from the recent tariff drama, but the White House’s fingerprints are all over the other part: diplomatic pressure on OPEC+ to increase output.
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