Iran blockade: ‘China can send their ships to us’, Trump pitches US oil exports as global energy crisis deepens

US naval forces will enforce a blockade around Iran from 7.30 pm IST (10 am ET) on Monday, in a clear escalation of the war after ceasefire talks in Islamabad broke down. US President Donald Trump is trying to turn the geopolitical crisis into a commercial opportunity, urging oil-hungry nations - China in particular - to fill their tankers with American crude instead.

Trump Pitches US Oil to China Amid Iran Blockade

The White House is pairing military pressure on Tehran with an aggressive energy sales campaign. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to normal shipping traffic, Trump has seized on the disruption to position the US as the world's indispensable energy supplier, a role, he argues, the country's record production levels make it uniquely qualified to fill.

"China can send their ships to us. China can send their ships to Venezuela," Trump said on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures.

Trump went further in a Saturday social media post, claiming that “empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil.”

Why US Oil Export Capacity Cannot Replace Strait of Hormuz Volumes?

US crude oil exports typically range from 3.5 million to 4.5 million barrels per day. Federal data for January 2026 put the figure at 3.9 million barrels per day. More recent preliminary weekly data showed exports reaching 4.2 million barrels per day in the week of 3 April.

The Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, normally handles roughly 20 million barrels per day of crude and petroleum products, approximately one-fifth of the entire global oil trade. That flow has been halted by the conflict.

The gap between what the US currently exports and what the Strait ordinarily moves is not a rounding error; it is an unbridgeable chasm under present conditions.

Saudi Arabia has been routing some supply via its east–west pipeline to the Red Sea, but only a fraction of the Hormuz volumes are being replaced through that channel. Persian Gulf producers, stripped of their primary export routes, have cut output by an estimated 8–10 million barrels per day.

Why American Crude Oil Cannot Simply Substitute Gulf Supplies?

Crude oil is not a universal commodity.

Refineries around the world are configured to process specific grades of oil. American exporters deal predominantly in lighter grades of crude.

Many Asian refineries are built to handle the heavier grades that Gulf producers supply. Replacing one with the other is not simply a matter of redirecting tankers; it requires either refinery modifications or blending arrangements that take time and capital to establish.

This means that even if American export infrastructure were expanded overnight, a meaningful portion of displaced Gulf supply could not be substituted with US crude without significant downstream adjustments.

US Petroleum Product Exports Hit Record Highs — With an Important Caveat

Where the American energy sector has shown genuine momentum is in refined petroleum products: gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. These exports have been climbing steadily for several years and hit a new weekly peak of 7.9 million barrels per day in the week of 27 March, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

However, analysts caution against reading too much into short-term weekly figures. The EIA's rapid-turnaround data is, by its own admission, notoriously volatile and more reliable monthly statistics arrive only after a considerable lag.

Mason Hamilton, a senior researcher with the American Petroleum Institute, noted on X that the broader trend appears real despite the noise in individual data points. "While weekly figures are volatile, multiple sources have reported US product exports increasing to Asia, Africa and other areas," he wrote.

Hamilton also highlighted the increasingly unconventional nature of current trade flows. "Trade flows have also become increasingly atypical, with reports US Gulf Coast gasoline moving to Australia and East Coast jet fuel heading to Europe, highlighting the global pull on US products amid ongoing supply disruptions," he posted — a snapshot of a global energy market being rewired in real time.

Iran Crisis Could Trigger Long-Term Investment in US Oil Export Infrastructure

One lasting consequence of the oil crisis may be a wave of investment in Gulf Coast export infrastructure. Expanded terminals, additional pipeline capacity and upgraded loading facilities have long been discussed; the commercial incentive to accelerate those projects has now sharpened considerably.

If that investment materialises, the US could meaningfully increase its export ceiling over the medium term, not in time to resolve the current crisis, but in a position to exercise greater influence over the next one.