On Friday (July 7), former President Donald Trump suggested that within hours after being elected in 2024, he would cancel every Biden administration policy “brutalizing our farmers.”
Speaking at a campaign rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Trump asserted that there has been “a nonstop war on American agriculture,” telling the crowd they would “know that better than anybody.”
Trump slammed Biden for reducing ethanol blending levels “by hundreds of millions of gallons,” which the former President described as an attempt to “totally kill Iowa ethanol” and instead replace the industry with “expensive electric cars.”
Trump told attendees at the rally at the nation’s leading ethanol producer that “Within hours of my inauguration,” he would “cancel every Biden policy that is brutalizing our farmers.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released finalized biofuel blending standards. In these standards, the amount of “conventional” biofuel required for blending in 2024 and 2025 (including corn-based ethanol) was reduced compared to a previous proposal.
Even though the standards have been decreased, they are still higher than in previous years, including during the Trump administration.
The EPA claims that the new rule will promote the use of U.S. biofuels and decrease the amount of oil imported by 130,000 to 140,000 barrels per day from 2023 to 2025, thus enhancing the United States’ energy security.
Previously, Trump praised his administration’s choice to remove restrictions on the sale of gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol during summertime in 2019. However, the decision was overruled by a federal appeals court in 2021.
According to Reuters, the Biden administration is planning to permit the year-round sale of a 15 percent ethanol blend in eight Midwestern states, which includes Iowa, starting in the coming summer.
