US President Donald Trump has invoked a Cold War-era national security law to expand American refining capacity, adding another emergency measure to the White House's increasingly broad effort to contain a fuel crisis that has become both an economic and political problem.
Speaking at a Republican campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump announced that his administration would use the Defense Production Act to make as much as $150 million available for projects aimed at increasing US petroleum production, storage and refinery output.
The Department of Energy says the money will be deployed through the Defense Production Act's Title III authorities in cooperation with private industry, with the goal of increasing production of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products by millions of gallons per day. The selection of individual projects is still underway.
The move gives Washington unusually direct tools to intervene in the country's downstream energy infrastructure.
Passed in 1950 during the Korean War, the Defense Production Act allows the federal government to support industries considered critical to national defense. It has since been used for everything from military procurement to medical supplies.
Trump's October 22 presidential determination now places petroleum production, refineries, pipelines, storage facilities and marine terminals firmly within that national-security framework.
The White House argued that private industry could not expand the necessary capacity quickly enough on its own, citing constrained financing, lengthy project timelines, permitting problems and supply-chain bottlenecks. Trump therefore authorized federal purchases, financial support and other measures intended to accelerate investment.
That language also exposes the central problem facing the administration: Washington may be able to finance additional refining capacity, but it cannot build a refinery overnight.
The economic pressure is considerably more immediate.
US Energy Information Administration figures show regular gasoline averaging $4.284 per gallon in the week ending October 19. Diesel, more important to trucking, agriculture and much of the country's industrial supply chain, averaged $6.276 per gallon.
Those numbers are slightly below recent peaks in some parts of the gasoline market, but remain dramatically higher than a year ago. Regular gasoline is $1.265 per gallon more expensive than during the same period in 2025, while diesel has risen by $2.656.
The increase has not been caused by a single factor. Crude prices have risen, while refining margins — particularly for distillates such as diesel — have widened significantly. The EIA said earlier this month that higher crude prices and rising refining spreads were both driving retail costs, and forecast diesel remaining above $6 per gallon during October.
The war involving the United States, Israel and Iran has added severe pressure to an already strained market by disrupting energy flows and raising risks surrounding supply. Those effects have fed through to fuel prices, but the shortage is also a refining problem: having crude oil available does little good if refiners cannot turn enough of it into the products consumers and industry actually need.
That distinction helps explain why the administration is now targeting refineries rather than simply calling for more drilling.
It also explains the political urgency.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted October 16-19 put Trump's overall approval rating at 31%, the lowest recorded during either of his presidential terms. Among registered voters, Democrats held a 47% to 35% advantage over Republicans when respondents were asked which party they would support in the November 3 congressional elections.
Economic sentiment was even worse. Only 27% approved of Trump's handling of the economy in the same Reuters/Ipsos polling, while 69% disapproved.
For an administration facing voters in less than two weeks, a refinery expansion that produces additional fuel months from now is therefore only part of the answer.
The White House has simultaneously been pursuing measures capable of putting additional diesel onto the market much sooner.
Earlier this month, Trump announced an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin under which Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global market.
Trump said another 500,000 tonnes would follow in November, with one million tonnes to be supplied thereafter. He also said Russia could eventually provide three million tonnes within a relatively short period, depending on the condition and capacity of Russian refineries.
The deal marked a notable shift in Washington's approach to Russian energy. Rather than attempting to further constrict Russian petroleum exports, the administration is now relying partly on additional Russian supply to ease pressure on international diesel markets.
The quantities involved are meaningful, but they are not large enough on their own to resolve a global shortage. The immediate effect is more likely to come through additional supply at the margins and the signal to traders that more Russian fuel may become available.
The agreement has also drawn criticism in Washington. Senate Democrats are preparing to scrutinize US companies involved in implementing the sanctions relief surrounding Russian diesel if they gain sufficient congressional authority after the midterms.
Ukraine has been equally unhappy with the shift.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described the agreement as unfair and criticised Washington's decision to ease restrictions on Russian fuel. Trump responded by escalating his criticism of the Ukrainian leader and publicly calling for Ukraine to choose a new president.
At the centre of the dispute are Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Trump has repeatedly demanded that Kyiv stop targeting those facilities, arguing that the attacks are removing refined products from an already tight global market and contributing to higher prices for American consumers and farmers. According to Axios, a US official said Zelensky had ignored repeated American requests to halt the strikes.
That leaves the Trump administration pursuing what amounts to a two-track strategy.
At home, it is using national-security powers and federal money to increase America's own refining capacity. Abroad, it is attempting to keep existing refineries operating and additional diesel flowing onto world markets — even when that means dealing with Russia and pressuring Ukraine.
Neither route provides an instant fix.
New refining projects take time, while the Russian supply agreement is small compared with the scale of the global diesel market. The administration has already turned to strategic reserves, regulatory relief and other emergency measures as it searches for faster ways to bring prices down.
But invoking the Defense Production Act marks a more significant acknowledgement of the underlying problem.
The United States is producing enormous quantities of crude oil, yet the current crisis has demonstrated that crude production alone does not guarantee cheap fuel. Refining capacity, distribution networks and access to finished petroleum products have become just as strategically important.
With the midterm elections approaching on November 3, Trump is now treating that problem not simply as a matter of energy policy, but as one of national security — and, increasingly, political survival.