Facing growing anxiety ahead of the November midterm elections, U.S. President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive push to win over voters in the crucial "Farm Belt."

During a rally on the 5th (local time) in Nebraska, a key Farm Belt state, President Trump signed an executive order allowing the unlimited purchase of "red-dyed diesel."

Previously, red-dyed diesel was exempt from federal fuel taxes, but its use was strictly limited to non-road applications, including agricultural and construction machinery. The President's new executive order removes this "non-road" restriction.

In his rally speech, President Trump stated, "Every time you fill up your tank, you’ll save over $100. Farmers will save millions of dollars. And this order will also drastically lower the costs of all goods, including groceries [affected by diesel prices]."

According to the U.S. political outlet Politico, the Trump administration plans to suspend enforcement actions even if logistics vehicles transporting agricultural goods use red-dyed diesel.

Analysts suggest this move comes out of concern that soaring diesel prices—surpassing $6 per gallon ahead of the midterms—have become a major political liability, threatening to alienate farming households that heavily rely on agricultural machinery and trucks.

President Trump repeatedly deflected blame for rising diesel prices, attributing them not to the war with Iran, but to Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries and the closure of refineries in Democratic-led states like California.

At the same time, he remarked, "(The Iran war) will be over soon. Maybe a little bit after the election, or maybe a little bit before. When that happens, oil prices will plummet."

Additionally, discussing the outcome of last month's U.S.-China summit with President Xi Jinping, President Trump claimed, "They (China) are going to double what they were buying from this country," adding, "You are the first to know about this."

He did not specify which U.S. products China will double its imports of. Given the context, it may have been a reference to agricultural products, but no such content was included in the official fact sheet of the U.S.-China summit.

However, Politico pointed out that it remains uncertain whether President Trump's outreach to farmers can effectively sway the votes of harvest-season farmers, whose frustrations run high over already exorbitant diesel prices.

The national average for diesel in the U.S. stood at $6.32 per gallon on that day, down 13 cents from the previous week, but still $6.32 higher than a year ago—though contextually up $2.63 compared to the prior year.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the fuel price tracking site GasBuddy, posted on X (formerly Twitter), "Road users could save about 60 cents per gallon. But farmers are already using dyed diesel and are still paying record-high prices. Taxes are not the problem. Supply is the problem."

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]