“This deal won’t lower costs for the American people, who are already paying for Trump’s failed war of choice in Iran,” Meeks said in a statement. “It will hand Putin millions of dollars to continue slaughtering Ukrainian civilians with impunity.”
Diesel prices are averaging around $6.33 per gallon nationally as of Friday, according to the American Automobile Association. Experts have said that theamount of diesel volumes Trump announced that Russia would bring into the market is not nearly enough to make a serious dent on prices.
Several Republicans have publicly admonished the White House’s deal with Russia. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania said last week that he would also introduce a bill called the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act that would “block any and all purchases of Russian oil.” Fitzpatrick’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of that potential legislation.
Earlier this week, a group of Senate Democrats and Republicans — including vulnerable incumbent Sen. Susan Collins(R-Maine) — similarly asked Trumpto rescind the deal, which they labeled “a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies.”
Trump last week announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel “to the American and Global Marketplace.” But in recent days, Trump has softened his messaging, saying that the Russian diesel is “not for us” but for the global marketplace.
Diesel costs have reached record highs on account of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and Ukraine’s destruction of Russian fuel refineries, pushing the Trumpadministration to search for ways to rein in high prices.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration also issued a temporary waiverallowing the sale of Russian crude that was already loaded on tankers in an effort to increase global oil supplies. Meeks’ legislation also targets that license and ones like it.