Diesel costs more than $6 a gallon and Donald Trump is looking to provide relief.
Now Trump is fighting back in a way no American president has ever done before.
He just reached back to a Korean War emergency law to do something that has never been done with it in the history of the United States.
Trump Invokes Defense Production Act to Expand US Oil Refinery Capacity
The Defense Production Act was signed in September 1950 – the same month American troops were fighting for their lives on the Korean peninsula.
It gives the president broad authority to direct industrial resources and provide financial support to industries the government declares vital to national defense.
In 76 years, nobody ever used it to expand American oil refining capacity.
Donald Trump just changed that.
The Energy Department announced $150 million in DPA funding to restart an idled American refinery and expand others.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the funds "will be used strategically and in partnership with private industry to rapidly bolster America's existing energy infrastructure."
Trump also signed a presidential determination declaring U.S. oil production, refining and fuel logistics vital to national defense – meaning refineries now carry the same protected status as military equipment.
That's not a policy tweak – that's a war footing.
Vice President JD Vance has already announced the first target: the Delek US Holdings refinery in Tyler, Texas, which is being expanded right now under DPA authority.
And America First Refining is pushing forward on something even bigger – the first new major American refinery in more than 50 years, targeted for operation in 2029.
Congress set aside $1 billion for energy projects under the Working Families Tax Cuts law, and Trump is spending it on the energy infrastructure Democrats spent years trying to kill.
Democrat Environmental Regulations Destroyed US Refinery Capacity While Families Pay Record Diesel Prices
The refinery crisis didn't happen by accident.
While Trump was fighting to "unleash American energy," Democrats spent decades doing the opposite – burying the refinery industry under environmental regulations designed to make new refinery construction impossible.
It worked.
In 2022, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth admitted what his industry had accepted for years: "Building a refinery is a multi-billion dollar investment. It may take a decade. We haven't had a refinery built in the United States since the 1970s. My personal view is that there will never be another new refinery built in the United States."
He said that because of the regulatory and policy environment Democrats deliberately created.
Gavin Newsom's California made his point for him – Valero finished shutting down its Benicia refinery in April, wiping out capacity that took decades to build.
California's regulators declined to comment on the DPA announcement.
They don't want to explain why they spent years making it impossible to run refineries – and then watched families pay $6 a gallon for the fuel those refineries would have produced.
One small business trucker ran the numbers: "The price of diesel today is over $6 a gallon, and we use 300 gallons a day – so now we're talking $1,800 a day."
Every dollar increase in diesel costs truckers $400 more per tank – and that cost doesn't disappear. It moves to the shipper, then to the retailer, then to you at checkout.
That's exactly why the Iran conflict hit American families so hard – when Democrats deliberately crippled domestic refining over decades, any supply disruption abroad becomes a kitchen table crisis at home.
Democrats want you to believe higher prices are someone else's problem.
They're not – they're the direct result of Democrat environmental policy designed to make domestic fuel production too expensive, too complicated, and too legally dangerous to build.
What Trump's Refinery Expansion Means for Gas Prices and US Energy Security
Matt McManus of the National Center for Energy Analytics noted the DPA declaration tells financial markets that energy supply is "a strategic national priority, thereby supporting market forces in bringing additional capital to bear."
Trump just told every private energy investor in America that Washington has their back – and that changes the investment math for every refinery, pipeline, and fuel terminal in the country.
Democrats spent years convincing Wall Street that fossil fuels were a dying bet.
Trump just pulled out a 76-year-old wartime law and proved them wrong.
Sources:
- Simon August, "Trump Wants More Gas And Diesel Made At Home, And He's Paying $150 Million To Make It Happen," Daily Caller, October 23, 2026.
- White House, Presidential Determination No. 2026-11, April 20, 2026.
- "US VP Vance Says Using Defense Production Act to Expand a Texas Refinery," NewsQuawk, October 2026.
- "White House Turns to Korean War-Era Law as Diesel Prices Stay Above $6," OilPrice.com, October 2026.
- "Chevron CEO Says No New Refineries In U.S. – Ever," Fox Business, June 2022.