Strengthening America at Home and Abroad

January 6, 2020

The title of a story published in Quartz says it best – A decreased reliance on foreign oil made it easier for the US to kill Iran’s Qassem Soleimani.

The U.S. fracking boom, and President Trump’s work to encourage the natural gas and oil industry, has led to many significant benefits. This is an industry that has generated billions in revenue, created millions of jobs, and increased the salaries of hardworking Americans. But, we are now witnessing the national security benefits of being energy independent.

Presidents on both sides of the aisle have long sought energy independence, but President Trump was actually able to achieve it. This independence, and the international leverage that comes with it, could not have come at a better time.

The assassination of Iran’s influential commander Qassem Soleimani triggered the nation’s supreme leader to vow “harsh retaliation” against America. While neither side wants a war, the US does face possible Iranian attacks on oil infrastructure in the Middle East. If that happens, it’s unlikely to cause severe damage to the US, where dependency on foreign oil has been declining for decades.

President Trump has successfully enacted deregulation policies that have allowed a growing industry to realize its potential, and now it’s making the U.S. far less vulnerable to foreign attacks.

The US’s imports of crude oil from Persian Gulf states (including Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) declined to 671,000 barrels a day in October 2019, the latest month for which data is available. This is less than half the level a decade ago (1.5 million barrels a day), and a third of the level two decades ago (2.1 million barrels).

President Trump has generated great domestic benefits by encouraging the natural gas and oil industry to grow, and now it’s protecting American interests abroad. It’s crucial that we continue to invest in this industry and limit our vulnerabilities to foreign enemies. It’s important that come election time we vote to put American workers in our energy fields so we don’t have to put American soldiers in foreign battlefields.