Governor's warning to ports
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, has cautioned port officials and terminal operators in her state against taking in Russian diesel. In a letter dated Nov. 2, she said that handling such cargo would violate federal law, according to CBS News.
Sherrill pointed to action Congress took in April 2022, when it prohibited energy imports from Russia after the country's attack on Ukraine. Bringing in Russian diesel, she wrote, would break that prohibition and could expose those involved to both civil and criminal charges. She also promised to use legal and regulatory tools to keep New Jersey's ports and facilities from being used to receive the fuel.
The governor said Russia has dispatched several tankers with diesel toward the United States, and that at least one of them may be bound for New Jersey. She urged recipients of the letter to refuse any vessel seeking to use their facilities for what she called unlawful activity.
The federal position
The dispute follows moves by the Trump administration this fall. In October, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to make large amounts of diesel available over the next three months, for American buyers as well as the wider world market, according to CBS News.
On Oct. 9, the Treasury Department said it would issue a temporary general license meant to permit Russian diesel to be supplied to the global market. Sherrill's letter argues that neither the president nor Treasury officials hold blanket power to set aside sanctions imposed by Congress.
A Trump administration official told CBS News that the license is consistent with all applicable U.S. laws. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that the president had secured a deal to supply global markets with diesel and lower prices for the United States and the world. She added that lower costs for farmers, truckers and families remain a top priority, and that Trump is also urging both Russia and Ukraine to stop striking refineries, which she said are pushing costs up.
Political framing
Sherrill cast the issue in sharply political terms. In a statement, she said New Jersey "will not stand by while Donald Trump supports Vladimir Putin at the expense of Americans." She argued that the president, rather than reducing costs, is helping finance Putin's war against Ukraine.
Invoking her background as a Navy veteran, she said she could not let that stand unchallenged and that New Jersey's ports "shouldn't be complicit." In the letter, she warned that any attempt to profit from trade in Russian fuel that she considers illegal would draw "harsh penalties."
Diesel prices behind the fight
Diesel has become markedly more expensive in the United States. CBS News reported that the ongoing war in Iran and Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries have both contributed to higher oil prices.
As of Tuesday, AAA put the national average at $6.29 per gallon. That is below the record of $6.53 reached in September, but far above the $3.68 average of a year earlier. Diesel powers trucks, farm equipment and much of the freight system, so changes in its price tend to ripple through the broader economy.
What remains unsettled
The source material does not describe any enforcement step yet, nor does it say how federal authorities would respond if New Jersey tried to block a shipment covered by the Treasury license. The administration and the governor disagree over whether the license is consistent with the congressional ban, a legal question the reporting does not resolve.
It is also unclear from the reporting whether any specific tanker has been identified or whether port operators have replied to the letter.
