G7 Unlocks 100 Million Barrels and Rules Out Export Bans
The Group of Seven will release up to 100 million barrels of emergency crude and diesel reserves over four months, coordinated by the International Energy Agency, with “a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days”. In return the leaders committed to “refrain from export restrictions on energy and energy products between G7 countries” — which kills the American export ban Donald Trump had been threatening all week.
That reciprocal clause is the deal. Mr Trump posted that Europe had “just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil” moments before the statement appeared, but Emmanuel Macron, chairing the meeting, set out both halves: “We have all committed together to releasing these strategic reserves in the proportions I mentioned, with a focus on diesel, and we are all committed to ensuring there are no export bans, and President Trump, in particular, was very clear on this point.” Ursula von der Leyen welcomed “the decision of G7 countries not to impose any export bans on allies”. So Europe supplied barrels and Washington withdrew a threat, each able to present it as a win. The scepticism is in the small print: the statement also “requests the IEA to monitor the immediate and full implementation of the March 2026 commitments”, a 400 million-barrel release that officials concede has still not been completed. Watch whether the twenty-day diesel tranche actually moves.