The U.S. Is Still Energy Independent

I am often asked if the U.S. is energy independent, or whether we have ever been energy independent. I frequently encounter a claim that President Trump made us energy independent, and we lost that under President Biden. Before addressing such a claim, you must ensure that everyone is speaking the same language.

When someone makes that claim to me, I ask them to define energy independence. If energy independence means we don’t import oil, then that hasn’t been true since the 1940s. If it means we export more energy than we import, then…