Tàu chở dầu diesel Nga trái phép không còn hướng đến bờ biển Mỹ, làm phá sản kế hoạch của Trump

WASHINGTON ― While President Donald Trump appears not to care about violating a 2022 law banning the importation of Russian diesel fuel, U.S.-based distributers do seem to care quite a bit, with the last of three tankers originally bound for the East Coast having turned away in the mid-Atlantic.

The Maltese-flagged Agioi Fanendes, which last week was making its way toward the United States, on Wednesday was instead heading back eastward at less than 2 mph, while still not broadcasting a destination, as commercial traffic normally does, according to websites that provide publicly available location data.

Two other tankers carrying Russian diesel from St. Petersburg and originally headed toward the United States had already turned toward alternative destinations. The Russian-flagged Talisman is now anchored off Alexandria, Egypt, possibly waiting to offload or transit the Suez Canal en route to the Sudan. The Sierra Leone-flagged Leruo is in the eastern North Atlantic headed for Brazil.

A fourth tanker, the Beast , also registered in Sierra Leone, is similarly in the eastern North Atlantic and headed for Brazil, as well.

Trump on Oct. 9 had announced he was allowing Russian diesel to enter the world market and specifically be sold in the United States after red state Senate candidates complained that high diesel prices were hurting their chances in the midterm elections.

Now, with the midterms over and Democrats soon to enjoy their largest congressional majorities in nearly two decades, Trump’s White House continues to claim he wants Russian diesel on the world market to bring prices down, even though the foreign cash would help dictator Vladimir Putin continue his murderous war of conquest against neighboring Ukraine.

“As the president has said, this is a deal for the world. This deal was made to add diesel supply to the global market, lowering prices for Americans and the world, which is exactly what will be done,” a White House official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

An oil industry expert with decades of experience in the field disputed the idea that the diesel on the four tankers, totaling slightly more than a million barrels, would affect what Americans are paying at the pump.

“They won’t at all,” said Matt Randolph. “It’s not enough volume of diesel to matter. These are relatively small volumes when compared to global consumption.”

In 2022, soon after Putin began his full-scale invasion, Congress overwhelmingly approved the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, which then-President Joe Biden signed into law. It bans the importation of Russian petroleum products, diesel fuel among them.

It was the existence of this law, experts said, that persuaded diesel distributers in the United States to ignore the entreaties of the Trump administration and forgo a potential multimillion-dollar windfall by buying the Russian fuel. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill last week wrote a letter to the ports and docks in her state warning that accepting delivery of the fuel would likely bring both civil and criminal penalties.

Trump himself, though, made clear that he did not care about the law.

“That probably makes it a pretty bad law,” he said.