Trump’s energy chief asked Europe to release more than a third of its diesel reserves

BERLIN — The Trump administration has circulated a proposal to European governments asking them to release a large portion of the bloc’s strategic diesel reserves to ease soaring fuel costs, according to four officials in European and U.S. governments. The plan, put forward by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, was pitched as an alternative to President Donald Trump's threat of a blanket ban on diesel exports from the U.S. Under the proposal, EU governments would release 120 million barrels of diesel from their national strategic reserves over 180 days, a government official from a European country told POLITICO.