Floorhands work on a drilling rig contracted to Shell in the Delaware Basin, near Wink, Texas.

Photograph: Tamir kalifa/The New York Times/Redux/Eyevine

Mar 18th 2026|3 min read

DONALD TRUMP is running out of options to cushion the energy shock from the Iran war. The American president has tried to press allies into assembling naval escorts, overseen the largest-ever release of strategic oil stocks and toyed with selling oil futures to drive prices down. None of it is working: the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, is above $110 a barrel. That has pushed average petrol prices to nearly $4 a gallon in America, from $2.90 on February 27th.

Signage for Mizuho Bank Ltd., a unit of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (MHFG), at one of the bank's branches in Tokyo, Japan.

What if Donald Trump decided to ban oil exports?