You really are a MAGA moron.
Trump signed an Agreement with OPEC in December of 2020, after he lost the election, to cut oil production, knowing it would drive up the price of gas and that Biden would be blamed for it.
Biden didn’t drive up gasoline prices. Gasoline prices went up all over the world. Biden brought them down faster than any other nation in the world.
Only an idiot blames Biden for gasoline prices rising. Thanks for telling us who you are.
/----/ What bullshyt.
Summary of Objectives:
- Stabilize Prices: To bring prices back up to a "survival" level (roughly $40–$50) where U.S. companies could stay in business.
- Prevent Bankruptcies: To stop a financial contagion in the U.S. energy sector that would have hit banks and the broader economy.
- Maintain Energy Security: To ensure that once the pandemic ended, the U.S. still had a functioning domestic oil industry rather than being entirely dependent on foreign imports again.
The core reason for this request in early 2020 was a desperate attempt to
save the U.S. oil industry from total collapse.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a "perfect storm" hit the energy markets that threatened to wipe out thousands of American shale companies and lead to massive layoffs across the U.S. "Oil Patch."
1. The Global Demand Collapse
As the world entered lockdowns in early 2020, the demand for gasoline, jet fuel, and oil essentially vanished overnight. However, oil production is like a massive tanker; it cannot be stopped instantly. The world was producing millions more barrels of oil than it could consume, and global storage tanks were rapidly filling to capacity.
2. The Saudi-Russia Price War
In the midst of this crisis, Saudi Arabia and Russia entered a
geopolitical dispute over production levels. Instead of cutting back, they both flooded the market with even more oil to gain market share. This caused oil prices to go into a "free fall," eventually reaching a historic low where
prices actually turned negative (meaning sellers had to pay buyers to take the oil because there was nowhere left to store it).
3. The Threat to U.S. Shale
While low gas prices are usually good for consumers, prices below $20–$30 a barrel are a
death sentence for U.S. shale producers. Unlike the state-owned oil companies in the Middle East, U.S. companies are private, often carry high debt, and have higher production costs.
- The Risk: A wave of bankruptcies in Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota that would have destroyed the "energy independence" the U.S. had achieved over the previous decade.
- The Intervention: Trump pressured Saudi Arabia—reportedly even threatening to withdraw U.S. military support—to lead a massive global production cut of roughly 10 million barrels per day.
Summary of Objectives:
- Stabilize Prices: To bring prices back up to a "survival" level (roughly $40–$50) where U.S. companies could stay in business.
- Prevent Bankruptcies: To stop a financial contagion in the U.S. energy sector that would have hit banks and the broader economy.
- Maintain Energy Security: To ensure that once the pandemic ended, the U.S. still had a functioning domestic oil industry rather than being entirely dependent on foreign imports again.
Essentially, it was a rare moment where a U.S. president lobbied for
higher oil prices to protect domestic jobs and national security interests
www.cnbc.com
