Why the IEA Should Be Put on Trump's Target List

Fatih Birol (R) and John Kerry participate in a COP28 panel discussion. Credit: Getty Images

Among the many promises and commitments that he has made during his ongoing transition period, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to pull United States support for the World Health Organization and cancel its commitments related to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. If a new report issued this week by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and incoming chairman Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), is any guide, Trump perhaps should add continuing US support for the International Energy Agency to his growing list of cancellation opportunities.

“French President Macron’s observation that IEA has become the ‘armed wing for implementing the Paris Agreement’ is regrettably true,” Barrasso wrote in a letter sent to IEA Chief Fatih Birol earlier this year. “With the many serious energy security challenges facing the world, however, IEA should not be a partisan cheerleader. What the world needs from IEA—and what it is not receiving now—is sober and unbiased analyses and projections that educate and inform policymakers and investors. IEA needs to remember why it was established and return to its energy security mission.”

The IEA was established in 1974 in response to the first Arab Oil Embargo which resulted in dramatically higher prices for crude oil and gasoline at the pump. Originally supported by 31 member countries including the US, the Agency’s mission was to provide accurate information related to global oil supply and demand which subscribing countries could use to help form effective energy policies. That original mission held firm for decades, during which the IEA was widely considered a leading source of real, unbiased energy information.