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President Trump at the first cabinet meeting of his second term
Opinion
US Politics
Philip K. Verleger
Denver
26 March 2025
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Letter from the US: Trumpism threatens oil producers’ survival

Well-functioning democracies are required for healthier economies and a thriving oil industry

Few oil-exporting nations can be labelled democracies. Oil- and mineral-exporting nations work best as autocracies. On the other hand, research by the Nobel-prize-winning economist and MIT professor Daron Acemoglu and three co-authors has showed that long-run per-capita GDP increases by almost 20% when a nation transitions from autocracy to democracy, while declining by a similar amount when an autocrat attains control. The Trump administration’s takeover of the US government has put the country on the path to autocracy. The democratic institutions under which presidents, members of the House of Representees and the Senate—along with the judiciary—have operated for more than 200 years are be

Also in this section
Explainer: Iran’s indispensable energy role
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
Oil’s tanker transformation
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
Letter from the US: The curse of strong energy exports
Opinion
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
Venezuela mismanaged its oil, and US shale benefitted
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution

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