![Chart showing global diesel price, by country]() The diesel export ban Trump is mulling to bring down record-high prices would backfire in two ways, further dividing Hill Republicans while risking even pricier gasoline, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and Nicholas Wu report. If his administration does push ahead, its main cheerleaders will be GOP candidates in tight races this fall. But most congressional Republicans want nothing to do with the idea, no matter how close they are with the administration. “The better policy would be for states like California to lift the restrictions that they’re imposing on the exploitation and the refining of diesel,” Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., told Semafor. Oil-state lawmakers were harsher: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, derided it as “a gimmick” that “won’t work.” The frosty response from Trump’s own party is particularly notable after a year that began with Republicans stiff-arming his earliest ideas to lower the cost of living. |