Some claim that the United States became energy independent under Trump, and then lost it under Biden. Energy independence is defined as producing more energy than we consume. The United States is still energy independent, despite what some might believe. 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 we became energy independent in 2019 (following a decade of soaring oil and gas production), but […]