Trump’s Energy Policy is Full of Contradictions — on Purpose

Opinion|Trump Has Now Made His Energy Project Clear

The first few days of President Trump’s second administration delivered a fusillade of executive orders about energy and climate policy. At first, what stands out is their many contradictions.

In one order, Mr. Trump says that he wants the United States to become the world’s top producer of lithium, rare earth elements and other minerals that are used in batteries, high-end magnets and some cutting-edge defense tools. Yet elsewhere, he moves to cut off American demand for electric vehicles and wind turbines — even though these industries would buy the rocks coming out of American mines.

In another order, Mr. Trump declares that the country faces an imminent energy emergency because its “inadequate and intermittent energy supply” cannot meet its growing needs. He says therefore the United States must discard a slew of environmental and permitting laws in order to build more pipelines, refineries and power plants. But he does not get rid of any obstacles to building more solar and wind power generation or battery storage — even though these energy sources are expanding faster in this country and around the world than any others because the economics are so good.

These actions, taken together, do not make sense on their own terms. And what becomes clear from looking at Mr. Trump’s energy agenda as a whole is that it’s not supposed to — it is not actually intended to shore up the country’s energy supply. It is also not meant to engineer a boom in new oil and gas supply, something that Mr. Trump’s donors don’t seem to want.

The guiding logic of the policies, instead, is to make the market for fossil fuels as big as possible. Mr. Trump wants to lock in oil and gas demand for the long term. That is why he has weakened energy efficiency rules for household appliances. That is why he has thrown out the government’s fuel economy rules for cars and trucks.

It’s also why, even as Mr. Trump asserted that the United States doesn’t have enough energy, he cleared the way for it to export more natural gas. America is already on track to double its liquefied natural gas exports by 2028, but Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration will pave the way for officials to approve about a half-dozen additional L.N.G. export terminals now sitting on the docket. Today, America generates more electricity with natural gas than any other fuel. By building more export terminals, and sending even more gas abroad, Mr. Trump will risk tying domestic power prices to the global gas market, potentially driving up costs for American consumers.