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WASHINGTON — The Group of Seven wealthy democracies said Friday that they plan to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products in the coming weeks, starting with “substantial” amounts of diesel after the fuel recently hit record high prices in the United States.

President Donald Trump said the diesel release would happen “immediately,” echoing a G7 promise to start “immediately” with a “frontloaded substantial release” of diesel within the next 20 days and the rest over four months.

Trump and his Republican Party face pressure to address surging prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and Trump announced the action Friday on social media. The president’s approval ratings on the economy hit a new low, according to an AP-NORC poll, as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods.

Gas prices in the U.S. and abroad have soared during the eight-month-long war, a cost Trump has repeatedly said is worth it for making sure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. The national average for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. was $6.37 on Friday, according to AAA, after hitting a record $6.52 on Sept. 22. Diesel prices have hit records in Europe, too.

The release of diesel in Europe might mean less exports of diesel from the U.S., which could lower prices by 25-50 cents per gallon after a few weeks, said Michael Lynch, distinguished fellow at Energy Policy Research Foundation, a non-partisan research institution focused on energy and economics.

Macron says the decision should bring down prices

France holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group and made the announcement in a statement released after videoconference talks that Macron presided over. The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S., plus EU representation.

The release follows on from a March announcement that International Energy Agency member countries would release 426 million barrels of oil and products to stabilize the oil market. European Union countries committed about 92 million barrels, a promise weighted toward refined products made from crude such as diesel.

“This common decision and this unity should bring down prices,” Macron said. “The volumes we’re releasing should also add liquidity to the market and bring down prices.”

In addition to the rise in the price of the crude oil from which diesel is made, other factors include the decision by Russia to ban exports due to Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries. Europe does not import Russian diesel, but other buyers of Russian diesel such as Turkey and Latin American countries must now compete with Europe for available barrels.

Meanwhile, refined product shipments from the Persian Gulf producers have fallen due to war damage and blocked export routes.

The statement pushed U.S. oil prices down 2% but “the impact was lessened by lack of clarity on an important question,” said Pavel Molchanov, investment strategy analyst at Raymond James. Is the 100 million barrels in addition to the amount already agreed in March, or “is this the final portion of the existing pledge?” he said.

The G7 says export bans are off the table

Some Republicans in the U.S. had called for Trump to ban U.S. exports of diesel to try to bring domestic prices down. But the G7 statement said the group agreed not to limit energy exports to each other. Oil market analysts warn a U.S. export ban could lower prices in the short term but eventually backfire by reducing supplies of gasoline since diesel output can’t be lowered without also cutting overall refinery production.

Asked about a potential U.S. export ban on Friday, Trump said “we were never going to do it.”

“We’re not going to be doing the export ban,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’re going to be doing what we’re supposed to do.” He added that Europe is making “a major world contribution, and so are we.”

Experts say there are risks in the strategy

The emergency release could also be a short-term fix with the potential to do long-term harm, said Jim Krane, energy research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

“Draining stocks will reduce retail fuel prices for a while, at the cost of leaving Europe with less emergency cover,” Krane said. “At some point in the future Europe and the rest of the G7 will have to refill their strategic reserves. Normally they try to do this when prices are low. Nobody knows when that will happen. It’s a risk.”

With two wars raging that involve attacks on refineries and exports, “it’s not the best time to be frittering away your emergency stocks — especially when there is no visibility on future prices or peace agreements,” Krane said.

Trump had a conversation overnight with Macron about the need to address rising fuel prices and the availability of petroleum products, according to the French Embassy in the U.S. Macron on Friday then chaired the videoconference of G7 leaders to discuss the issue.

Besides his call with Macron, Trump on Friday called in to the meeting with the G7 leaders to negotiate the release of the European diesel stockpiles, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Trump on Thursday embarked on what he said would be a 32-day marathon of rallies to try to bolster his party’s chances for keeping control of the U.S. House and Senate in the November elections. The president has grown increasingly frustrated with what he sees as a disconnect between his achievements and the public’s view of his work. This week he gave himself an A-plus for his work on the economy but said “we’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion.”

IMMOKALEE, Fla. — It’s almost noon, and after playing on the playground, working with clay and washing their hands, the 2-year-olds are ready for lunch.

The eight children and their Head Start teachers pray in English, thanking God for the meal. Then, the adults bring over several bowls.

“Hoy tenemos arroz. Eduardo, ¿puedes servir tu arroz, por favor?” In Spanish, the teacher announces the children are having rice, asking Eduardo to start serving. The little boy grabs a ladle and scoops rice onto his plate.

Both English and Spanish are core to daily life in this Head Start preschool in Immokalee, Florida — an agricultural area about 120 miles northwest of Miami. The center serves more than 50 children from mostly Guatemalan families, ages six months to 5 years. Most students arrive speaking little or no English.

Children who speak a language other than English at home account for at least a third of the enrollment in Head Start, a federally funded early childhood program serving roughly 700,000 low-income children and their parents. For decades, Head Start has supported these kids by hiring multilingual teachers to teach them English, while using their home languages as a foundation.

But an overhaul of Head Start’s standards proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration would amend that approach.

If finalized, the proposal would require Head Start programs to conduct all education in English, though programs could seek waivers, and certain Tribal-language instruction would be exempt. The administration argues emphasizing English will expand children’s future economic opportunities and their ability to participate in American communities.

“A firm foundation in the English language” is critical to preparing kids for school, said the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, in response to questions from The Associated Press.

The administration says the change would allow programs to reduce multilingual services and redirect resources toward English-language education and “assimilation.” But it also estimates tens of millions of dollars in one-time costs to make the switch to English instruction, including nearly $47 million to replace curricula, books, and other classroom materials containing other languages.

How Head Start teaches in multiple languages

Toys line shelves in the Immokalee classrooms, labeled in English and Spanish — helicopters, airplanes, tower builders. Bilingual signs show shapes in different colors and list children’s birthdays.

Every day, teachers sing and read in both languages, with offerings like “La Vaca Lola” (Lola the Cow), “The Wheels on the Bus,” “El Camioncito Azul” (Little Blue Truck) and “Pete the Cat.”

One afternoon, a group of children is eating muffins when it suddenly grows dark outside and thunder rolls. Noticing the preschoolers look worried, a teacher explains in English, “When you see it, it’s lightning. When you hear it, it’s thunder. What was it?”

“Thunder,” a boy responds. Another answers the question in Spanish, noting the danger: “Es muy peligroso.”

“Si te cae un rayo muy fuerte, te puedes lastimar,” the teacher responds. (If a very strong bolt of lightning hits you, you could get hurt.) Then she adds in English: “So we don’t go outside.”

The children cover their ears. “¡Lo escuché!” one shouts. (I heard it!)

Speaking in English, the teacher tries to calm them down. Everything is fine, she explains. They are safe inside the classroom.

This is part of Head Start’s Planned Language Approach in action. Educators help children learn English while also using the language they speak at home — not simply as an accommodation, but as a teaching strategy. Research shows skills and knowledge developed in a child’s home language can provide a foundation for learning English.

If a child already knows the word for “yellow” in Spanish, she doesn’t have to completely rediscover the concept behind the color when learning the word in English. Rather, Spanish becomes a bridge to English.

Asked for research supporting the proposed English-only requirement, the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to a section of the proposal that cites Trump’s executive order designating English as the country’s official language. “The changes set forth in the proposed Head Start rule help achieve these goals by exposing children to English earlier, during a critical time in children’s development,” a department spokeswoman said.

But education studies don’t back up the administration’s claim, said Michael López, a child psychologist who has spent more than three decades researching early learning and leading Head Start studies for the federal government and non-governmental organizations.

“There’s really not any credible research basis that suggests that English-only instruction will produce stronger English academic outcomes,” López said. “It’s a mistake. It’s really going back 30 years.”

Dual-language instruction produces better academic outcomes, he said, including in subjects like mathematics. And, he said, studies suggest instruction in both languages can produce better Spanish skills without sacrificing English-language development.

Francisco Rodriguez, who attended Head Start in Florida as a child, said he spoke English at home with his mother, but often couldn’t communicate with his father, who speaks only Spanish. Head Start helped him build a foundation in Spanish to deepen his relationship with his dad. Today, he is fluent in both languages.

“Knowing how to read or write in English, it was easy for me to pick up Spanish words,” said Rodríguez, now 32, who holds a master’s degree in architecture and creates interactive experiences in museums. “And because I’ve heard them at home, I can easily put two and two together.”

In the 1970s, Head Start began requiring centers with significant numbers of non-native English speakers to hire at least one staff member fluent in their home language — a regulation still in place today.

The Trump administration wants to drop that requirement, saying it could help centers more easily staff classrooms.

The language changes are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate or rewrite many federal Head Start requirements for classroom conditions, curriculum and safety. Instead, state and local regulations — which are often more lenient — would apply. The administration says the change would give Head Start centers more flexibility over how they operate.

The proposed changes do not require a vote in Congress, but the administration is required to seek and consider feedback from the public. Comments are due Oct. 6.

Thus far, most comments related to the English-only proposal oppose that approach.

Multilingual approach allows parents to participate in learning

At Immokalee, teachers give daily notes to parents when they pick up their children, writing in both English and Spanish. A recent note to the family of a girl named Deleiza, for example, said she’d eaten almost all her breakfast and lunch. “Hoy estuve sonriente,” it said. (Today I was smiling.)

Beyond these simple reports are monthly parent meetings on campus to discuss topics like security, plus four in-person parent-teacher conferences every year — two at the children’s homes and two at school. (Those conferences would become optional under the Trump administration proposal.)

In all of these interactions, parents and staff currently speak in Spanish with each other.

The executive director overseeing the Immokalee center said she is unsure what the English-only proposal would mean in practice, particularly for parents’ involvement.

“I don’t know how you’re going to keep people from … speaking Spanish, because it is the home language,” said Isabel Garcia, who, as executive director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, supervises 26 Head Start and Early Head Start locations. “It is important that (family members) feel comfortable understanding what is happening with their child.”

HHS told the AP the English-language requirement would apply only to instruction. Head Start teachers could continue using kids’ home languages in non-instructional contexts — explaining safety rules or providing comfort, for example — and when communicating and engaging with families, the department said. In fact, the law requires Head Start centers to communicate with parents in a language they understand, “to the extent practicable,” which wouldn’t change.

But communicating thoroughly may be more difficult without a staff member who speaks the language. The department acknowledged that eliminating requirements for bilingual staffers “may negatively affect communication with non-English-speaking families and weaken family engagement.”

“Technology-based translation tools may help mitigate some of these impacts,” the department said.

López, the researcher, noted parents help advance their children’s learning by being teachers at home, even when they’re using a language other than English. They help kids by counting, referencing different colors, and repeating stories and songs.

“We are going to lose that bridge,” López said.

During naptime at the Immokalee center, a mother opens the door to pick up a sick child. The teacher greets her in Spanish, reporting her daughter didn’t want to sleep or eat.

“No quiso dormir. No quiso comer,” the teacher says.

The mother lifts her daughter from the mat, rests her little head on one of her shoulders, and says to her: “It is OK, bebé.”

“Hasta mañana,” the teacher whispers. “Hope you feel better.”

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo XIV said Monday that concerns about artificial intelligence going rogue are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, insisting that safety issues raised by AI experts should be discussed and acted on.

Leo, who dedicated his first encyclical to AI and protecting humanity in its wake, was asked during a news conference about what the United States and China especially should be doing to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks to humanity. President Donald Trump has called concerns about AI going rogue a “hoax.”

“This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about,” the American pope told reporters while returning home from France. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”

Trump has been a champion of AI, often warning that the United States must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. He has said efforts to limit the technology were part of a “conspiracy” by his political opponents.

Several AI giants, including Anthropic, have called for a slowdown in development to give safety measures time to catch up to the fast-moving technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, has warned that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet.

Trump said on Sunday he planned to have a late dinner with Amodei, but he had not yet commented on the meeting.

“If someone were to ask me ‘Am I in panic mode?’ No I’m not. I sleep at night,” Leo said. “I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously.”

“I don’t think that that is ‘fake news’ as some have said, to try and cause whether financial or other some other kind of benefit,” Leo said.

The pope, who called for robust regulation of AI and a slowdown of the technology in his encyclical Magnificent Humanity, is up to speed on developments in the field.

Despite being at the end of a grueling four-day trip to France, Leo noted a news report Monday afternoon about Nvidia introducing guardrails into AI. He also noted that the company has previously resisted outside regulation of AI development.

Leo had identified AI as one of the biggest challenges to humanity within days of his election and took the unusual step of personally launching his own encyclical alongside Anthropic’s co-founder Christopher Olah at a Vatican event in May. The initiative was part of the Vatican’s effort to engage Silicon Valley about the human costs of AI.

“We need to continue to invite political leaders, leaders of AI, social organizations, associations to come together and look at what is happening already and what could be down the road,” he said Monday.

“To simply say ‘Oh it’s not going to happen’ and close our eyes to it I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,” he added.

With his comments Monday about the legitimacy of safety concerns and AI development, Leo has confirmed another area of disagreement with Trump. The two had a back-and-forth in April over Leo’s opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and Leo has also criticized the Trump administration’s migration crackdown.

Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Washington and while Xi said that it was important to ensure AI is “always under human control,” Trump focused more on trying to rebrand it as “superintelligence” and dismissed calls for regulation. However, the two leaders agreed to explore a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents affecting national security.

AI has become a major election-year issue in the U.S. as some of the country’s largest companies rush to build a national network of data centers while Americans from both parties increasingly raise alarms about the impact on farmland, water supplies, and electricity bills.

Worries about AI are continuing to grow inside and outside the industry and reports continue to emerge about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also go rogue and carry out other, more harmful tasks.

The worries have grown so loud that the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in an interview with Fortune that his company would wait until next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

Leo noted that ever since he published his encyclical in May, the Vatican has received comments from people interested in being part of a broader conversation about AI. A Vatican commission is working to promote dialogue, study and investigation “to find ways to make sure that AI does not get to a point of destroying humanity or removing humanity from the conversation,” he said.

Leo said he was “relatively optimistic” that solutions could be found.

“I think there are enough people seriously interested in that and willing to look at that outside of the questions once again of power, who gets there first,” he said.

DETROIT — The Trump administration on Monday released new fuel economy standards that relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks. The new rules were released shortly after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring.

The change furthers Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles and, ultimately, will expose Americans to more planet-warming pollution from vehicles.

Mileage standards, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, requirements, have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. Over time, automakers have gradually improved their vehicles’ average efficiency.

The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the finalized standards would correspond to a combined industry fleetwide average of roughly 34.9 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks in the 2031 model year. That’s up from 30.1 miles per gallon for model year 2024, but down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement touting vehicle affordability.

NHTSA had projected last December that the new standards would hover at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon.

The news comes amid ongoing tensions as the war in Iran persists, with Trump refusing a deal with Iran to open the strait as recently as Saturday, impacting the world’s oil supply.

Environmental groups concerned over rollback

News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists.

The DOT said Monday that the rule would cut yearly oil consumption in 2050 by about 1.3 billion barrels as compared to yearly oil consumption in 2024.

But when the 2024 standards went into effect, NHTSA estimated they would save 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050. The agency also said that while new fuel-efficient vehicles cost more up front, savings on gasoline over the lifetime of the car or truck would more than make up for that.

Environmental groups estimate now, without stricter standards, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules in 2035.

The rule also translates to an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in coming years, experts say.

Transportation already accounts for much of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet: 28% as of the last estimate in 2022.

It “ignores the feasibility of clean technology and the millions of fuel-efficient cars already on the road,” Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said of the rule.

Since taking office, Trump has also pulled back auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards, and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.

The president has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to former President Joe Biden’s target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. No federal policy has mandated auto companies to sell EVs.

According to data from Cox Automotive, EVs accounted for 5.7% of total new-vehicle sales in August, down from 7.4% for all of 2025.

Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, vowed the environmental group would fight the rule.

“Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump, and dirtier air in our communities,” Garcia wrote in a statement.

The state of the industry

Automakers and industry groups have said the new rules will increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.

“NHTSA made the right call to better align fuel economy standards with the law and current market conditions,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents the domestic auto industry, said in a statement. He said the previous standards “effectively required a switchover to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand. Today’s final rule is an appropriate course correction.”

“What the industry needs is long-term regulatory stability that includes balanced, durable, and achievable fuel economy standards that continue to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy,” Bozzella added. “This is the formula for preserving consumer vehicle choice and keeping the U.S. auto industry globally competitive.”

A spokesperson for Ford Motor Company, maker of the top-selling pickup truck, the F-150, said: “We appreciate Secretary Duffy and the Administration’s work to align regulations with market realities. As we evaluate the final rule’s full impact on our business, we’ll continue working with the Administration to build a strong American auto industry.”

A General Motors spokesperson said in a statement the company supports the goals of the rule “and its intention to better align fuel economy standards with market realities.”

Stellantis also welcomed the changes.

“These standards will allow us to offer our customers the freedom to choose from a range of vehicles and powertrains that meet their needs, from brands they love and trust,” a Stellantis spokesperson said in a statement.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car,” while boosting auto production in the U.S.

The DOT reiterated on Monday that the changes will cut the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300, and save Americans $138 billion over the next five years.

Americans, however, are spending more on gas as Washington’s war with Iran disrupts the global flow of fuel; gasoline prices averaged $4.47 on Monday, according to the AAA motor club, up from $3.13 a year ago. The rising cost of oil weighed on U.S. stocks to start the week.

“Trump is tanking sensible mile per gallon standards at the worst possible time for consumers, who are getting hit with sky-high prices at the pump,” the Center for Biological Diversity’s Becker said. “Consumers will pay the price for these reckless rollbacks while Trump’s Big Oil and Big Auto buddies reap the short-term profits.”

Experts have also said that less stringent rules do not necessarily translate to more consumer purchases of new vehicles that may have more safety features.

The average new car in America sold for $50,089 in August, crossing over the $50,000 line for the first time since last December, according to Kelley Blue Book data.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, the U.S. ambassador to China said.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel’s Fox News Sunday days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn’t specify when the offer was made.

But the State Department on Monday looked to distance the Trump administration from Perdue’s comments, saying that “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

Perdue said Sunday that Trump, a Republican, was downplaying longstanding U.S. arms sales to Taiwan — which have drawn protest from Beijing for years — by couching it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world — and even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. weaponry.

Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that seeks to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week.

Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

The offer “speaks to (Trump’s) treatment of China in almost exclusively commercial terms, even at the potential expense of the U.S. military position in Asia,” said Evan Sankey, an analyst focused on U.S. policy toward China at the Cato Institute.

He said the U.S. last sold arms to Beijing in the 1980s and resuming those sales would be “a shocking policy change.”

The U.S. is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the U.S. ally should China invade.

China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

In their private talks at the White House last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media.

In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue’s remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.