Trump is committing up to $150 million under the Defense Production Act to boost U.S. refineries as diesel averages $6.32 a gallon and squeezes working families.
The Energy Department announced Thursday it will spend as much as $150 million to raise oil output, storage, and fuel shipping at American refineries. The same day, President Donald Trump signed a determination declaring U.S. oil production, refining, and fuel logistics vital to national defense.
Daily Caller reported the move comes as national diesel prices jumped hard over the past year and households and truckers absorb the hit.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright framed the cash as a targeted partnership, not a takeover.
"These Defense Production Act funds will be used strategically and in partnership with private industry to rapidly bolster America’s existing energy infrastructure,"
Wright said in the department release. Selections have not been named. Officials said they will announce which refineries get the money soon.
The American Automobile Association put the national diesel average at $6.32 a gallon on Friday. A year earlier it was $3.63. That kind of climb shows up in grocery shelves, construction bids, and long-haul freight.
Trump’s determination leans on Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950. It states U.S. industry “cannot reasonably be expected to provide these capabilities... in a timely manner due to constrained financing, long lead times, permitting and infrastructure bottlenecks, and supply chain limitations.” The order went to the secretary of war.
Congress already set aside $1 billion through the Working Families Tax Cuts law for energy projects tied to national security, the Energy Department said. The $150 million sits inside that larger push. An earlier presidential determination in April covered the same domestic petroleum production, refining, and logistics capacity and was addressed to the energy secretary.
Readers tracking assertive energy moves will recall how Trump locked in an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Domestic refining is the home-front half of the same priority.
American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers backed the signal. A spokesperson told the outlet the group appreciates the administration’s focus.
"The whole world has seen this year that refineries are national security and economic assets, and U.S. refineries are the strongest example,"
the AFPM spokesperson said. The group added that the country’s 128 operating refineries already produce more fuel in the United States than Americans consume and are “running all-out” despite shortages elsewhere.
AFPM’s priority list is plain: keep U.S. refineries strong, create a stable investment climate, keep fuel moving, and strip unnecessary costs and regulatory barriers so consumers get relief. The trade group said it is not privy to unannounced capacity or debottlenecking projects.
Matt McManus, a senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics, said the statute does useful work even before the first dollar is spent.
"The Defense Production Act is helpful in signaling to the energy industry and financial markets that energy supply is a strategic national priority, thereby supporting market forces in bringing additional capital to bear,"
McManus said. He pointed to constraints on Persian Gulf refineries and said the market needs more supply over the medium term. Mark Mills, the center’s founder, endorsed those comments.
That same Cold War-era statute has already been central to coverage of how Trump ordered the Defense Production Act used to expand refining. Thursday’s funding announcement puts dollars behind the earlier paper determination.
Neil Atkinson, another senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics, put the scale in perspective. He said U.S. refineries are running at about 94 percent of capacity, citing the latest weekly Energy Information Administration figures, and that “there is almost no idle capacity in the U.S.”
"$150 million is not much money to spend in an industry that requires many hundreds of millions and into the billions to make major changes,"
Atkinson said. He also noted that global supply and demand still drive U.S. prices.
The American Petroleum Institute said it is reviewing the action to understand its scope. An API spokesperson added that energy security depends on a strong domestic system and policies that let the country produce, refine, and move energy where it is needed.
Vice President JD Vance has said the administration plans to use the law to expand a Delek US Holdings refinery in Texas, according to Reuters. Delek did not immediately respond. Phillips 66 declined to comment. Valero and LyondellBasell also did not immediately respond.
Presidential determinations of this kind fit a broader pattern of executive action that has left opponents scrambling, including when Trump signed an order that blindsided the Supreme Court. Energy infrastructure is now getting the same direct treatment.
Valero finished idling all processing units at its Benicia, California, refinery in April, according to the company’s own site. The California Energy Commission declined to comment. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately provide an on-the-record response.
That West Coast shutdown sits beside a different private bet. John Calce, chairman and founder of America First Refining, said the company remains focused on the first new major U.S. refinery in more than 50 years, targeted to be operational in 2029. He did not say whether the firm would seek the Defense Production Act money and declined to discuss financing plans.
Reuters reported the United States produced about 13.6 million barrels of crude a day on average in 2025, more than any other country. The bottleneck is not raw crude alone. It is turning that oil into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel fast enough, storing it, and moving it while permits and financing drag.
Trump has shown he will use federal power when elections and institutional fights are on the line, as when he ordered a Justice Department suit over Alaska Senate certification. The refining determination applies that same willingness to act to fuel supply.
The White House and Energy Department have not published a full list of eligible projects. The department’s own release stresses partnership with private industry and a rapid boost to existing infrastructure rather than greenfield builds alone. Atkinson’s warning still stands: major refinery work runs into the hundreds of millions or billions. One hundred fifty million dollars can unlock storage, shipping, and targeted debottlenecking. It will not rebuild the entire downstream sector overnight.
AFPM’s message lines up with that reality. Keep the plants that already exist strong. Cut the regulatory drag that raises costs. Let capital see a stable path. McManus made the parallel point that the statute’s value includes the market signal itself, energy supply treated as a strategic national priority.
Diesel at more than six dollars a gallon is the scoreboard families see. The determination language is the administration’s diagnosis: financing, lead times, permitting, infrastructure bottlenecks, and supply-chain limits have left private industry unable to deliver the needed capacity on the schedule national defense and household budgets require.
American refining already outproduces domestic demand on paper and runs near full tilt. The gap is resilience, logistics, and the willingness of regulators and lenders to stop treating liquid fuels as a political afterthought. Putting Defense Production Act cash on the table does not revise every state rulebook. It does put federal weight behind the plants that keep trucks rolling and shelves stocked.
Cheap talk never filled a diesel tank. Building and unblocking real capacity does, and that is the test this money now has to meet.
