US President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing drivers to use tax-exempt red-dyed diesel, a fuel normally reserved for farm machinery and other off-road equipment, on public roads.
The move came as surging pump prices tied to the Iran war weighed on Trump’s Republican Party weeks before the US midterm elections.
Speaking at a rally in Nebraska, Trump told supporters the order would officially waive the off-road requirement and allow anyone to purchase tax-free red-dyed diesel for any reason. Red-dyed diesel is essentially the same fuel as standard diesel, but it is exempt from highway fuel taxes.
A White House fact sheet released alongside the order described a more limited measure than the one Trump announced on stage.
Rather than scrapping the tax, the order instructs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in consultation with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, to defer the tax owed on dyed diesel used on roads until the end of the year, without interest or penalties, and to look for ways to cancel the charges altogether.
