U.S. President Donald Trump launched an effort on Tuesday to
increase ethanol use in the nation's gasoline pool, delivering a long-sought
political victory to the country's Farm Belt and angering oil refiners ahead of
November's congressional elections.
Reuters reports that the president announced the lifting of
a ban on summer sales of gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol, known as
E15, at a closed-door meeting at the White House, Republican senators told
reporters after the meeting.
"My administration is protecting ethanol. ... Today we
are unleashing the power of E15 to fuel our country all year long," Trump
told a cheering crowd of supporters at a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The announcement capped a months-long effort by the White
House to thread the needle between rival corn and oil industry interests, by
boosting ethanol demand while also cutting costs for refiners. In the end,
Trump is moving ahead without the support of the oil refining industry, which
wanted more in return for agreeing to lift the summer ban.
The move is also aimed at helping the political fortunes of
Republican candidates in the Midwest saddled with a tough farm economy and the
imposition of import tariffs by Trump and China. Polls show close election
races in Iowa for the governor's seat and two congressional seats.
Trump told the rally that Democrats would "end
ethanol" if given the chance. "You'd better get out there and vote
for Republicans," he said.
Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of
Representatives, said in a statement: "Democrats remain vigilant to ensure
that this new measure will create real benefits for America's farmers."