Trump declares national emergency over gas | US | News
Global oil markets have been in a very disturbing situation since the US and Israel carried out joint attacks on many important Iranian facilities since February 28.
Iran retaliated by striking sites in the Middle East and closing the critical Strait of Hormuz trade route. Approximately 20 percent of worldwide oil trade passes through the strait.
Since then, the US has been blockading Iranian ports in the strait, despite a truce of sorts.
In January, Trump issued an executive order declaring the National Energy Emergency, finding that insufficient U.S. energy production, transportation, refining and manufacturing capacity poses an unusual and extraordinary threat to the nation’s economy, national security and foreign policy.
The order emphasized that the United States’ “current inadequate and intermittent energy supply leaves us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and poses an imminent and growing threat to the prosperity and national security of the United States.”
“I have declared a national emergency… and have also determined that action to expand domestic oil production, refining, and logistics capacity is necessary to prevent a shortage of industrial resources or critical technology items that would seriously impair the national defense capability,” Trump said in his order on Monday.
The United States will meet with Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday, with the aim of reaching a long-term peace deal for both sides.
