The way to solve the Middle East problem is to leave the Middle East problem.From the madness, a pattern is emerging: barrels are being rounded up in the Americas and the United States is quietly assembling the pieces of a new energy isolationism.It started with "Drill, Baby, Drill," the long-in-the-tooth bit of campaign rhetoric.
Then came the January 2025 National Energy Emergency proclamation.Then the Big Beautiful Bill and rolled-back regs for oil and gas producers and consumers.
Then Venezuela and its enormous reserves.And now the lessons of playing with fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
The collective result is a reshuffling of U.S.energy access."Let them all do it.
What the hell are we doing it for?" President Donald Trump recently declared, suggesting Europe, China, Korea and Japan should be the ones to open and police the Strait of Hormuz."We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in protecting the oil they so desperately depend on." Whatever one’s regard for Trump, the argument that the U.S.
goes it alone might just be a reasonable one.Oil markets are a confusing network of alliances, logistics, seaborne routes, pipelines and refining needs.But in the simplest terms: the U.S.
consumes 20 million barrels of crude per day and produces 13.6 million.Analysts will say we’re energy independent, but that’s a BTU calculation, not actual barrels.
We need more physical barrels to make up the difference, and we’re almost there.STEVE MOORE: FIVE ENERGY TRUTHS THE MEDIA IGNORE AS AMERICA’S OIL BOOM BLUNTS THE IRAN WAR’S IMPACTThe Norco oil refinery is seen behind train tracks and residences in Norco, La., Thursday, April 2, 2026.(Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)Canada exports 4.0 million barrels per day to the U.S., Mexico adds 0.3 million, and Venezuela adds 0.44 million.
Combined, that’s 18 million barrels a day.As Venezuelan exports rise with the work Energy Secretary Chris Wright is doing there, and Mexican exports return to historic norms, with ...