U.S. President Donald Trump has been an outstanding advocate for U.S. energy dominance. He revived the slogan "Drill! Baby! Drill!" as a rallying call to increase fossil fuel production, and boost consumer purchase.
His first executive order in 2025 was to reclaim energy dominance, not only for everyday use, but for jobs and enhancing national security. These are noble reasons, however east coast refineries are depending on imported oil for survival.
In 2019, during President Trump’s first term, the U.S. became the world’s leading oil producer. That year, American oil production reached an average of 12.3 million barrels per day. In 2024, the U.S. produced 857.9 metric tons of oil.
America currently exports approximately five million barrels a day of crude oil from Texas and Louisiana.
With all this said, the East Coast poses a major weakness for energy dominance. It is best described as an Achilles’ Heel.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EI), the U.S. Imported over 324 million barrels of refined product in 2024. In 1982, there were twenty-seven East Coast refineries. Only four of the eight East Coast refineries that operated twenty years ago remain open.
The Philadelphia oil refinery, owned by Philadelphia Energy Solutions, closed in 2019 following a massive explosion that led to the site’s bankruptcy.
According to CNN, it was the world’s third largest refinery loss since 1974. The PES facility once produced 355,000 barrels of oil per day.
These refinery closings are not only related to economics or accidents.
East Coast refineries largely rely on foreign crude oil.
Eastern refineries have Imported over 51 million barrels of crude from Nigeria in 2024 and 10 million barrels from Angola. In April 2025, the U.S. imported 180,000 barrels per day from Nigeria, making it the fifth largest source.
Nigeria is also a leading exporter of jet fuel. In March, the U.S. imported 1.7 million barrels of jet fuel from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery.
Both countries are dominated by China.
In 2024, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu visited China, where he signed the Nigeria China Relationship Agreement during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing. In 2020, Nigeria began construction on a new pipeline that was funded by China.
The East Coast was once thriving with oil production. Today, it is dependent on China and its surrogates. President Trump has presided over tremendous energy production and led the U.S. to a position of energy dominance.
We can't allow that position to be undermined by relying on hostile powers for such a significant portion of energy production.
According to an article in Energy Intelligence, "In an interview last October with Bloomberg, Donald Trump said, 'To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff, and it’s my favorite word.' U.S. refinery owners may think otherwise, because retaliatory tariffs by nations such as Brazil could bankrupt one or more of their companies.
"The economic disaster imposed by the government on U.S. farmers over the last half-century may presage what’s to come for them. Marathon Petroleum, PBF, Phillips 66 and other firms with facilities on the US Gulf Coast are particularly vulnerable."
The president and the secretary of energy must recruit American companies to refine its oil on the East Coast and to end our reliance on foreign oil sources.
Craig Shirley is Chairman of Citizens for the Republic. He's also a prominent historian having written eleven books. Currently, Mr. Shirley is working on a book about the Trump 2024 campaign. Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.