Not my problem! Donald Trump wants to have others clean up what he himself has done on the Strait of Hormuz.Image: keystone
According to a new report, the Iran war shows with “brutal clarity” who is vulnerable to high oil prices and who is not. Countries that relied on renewables early on are less exposed today.
April 5, 2026, 5:48 amApril 5, 2026, 6:41 a.m
Get your own oil,” wrote Donald Trump early in the morning on his own Truth Social platform to allied countries. The USA did most of the work in Iran. Now it is up to others to clear the Strait of Hormuz again. After all, the USA doesn’t need them anyway.
«You have to learn to fight for yourself. The USA will no longer be there for you.”
That was simply a lie. Trump has not done a necessary job in Iran but has created chaos of historic proportions. The USA, like other industrialized countries, is also dependent on the global oil market and therefore on the Strait of Hormuz. That was evident just this week when the average price of gasoline topped $4 a gallon. And yet Trump’s wild rantings could mark a turning point. “Get your own oil,” sounds like the title of a book about the “end of an era,” according to energy analyst Rory Johnston.
The era that ends there would be that of oil; the era that is beginning anew, that of renewable energies. Or at least Trump could use his chaotic approach to massively accelerate global energy trends that had already been gaining momentum.
The price of oil has shot up in recent weeks.
Even before the Iran war, trust in the USA had weakened. Trump made sure of that himself. With its arbitrary tariffs. With the resulting breach of previous trade agreements. With his territorial desires towards Canada and Greenland.
Technological miracle
If the USA can no longer be relied upon, then the guarantor of the post-war order can no longer be relied upon either. After World War II, the United States ensured a reasonably stable global energy system, primarily based on oil from the Middle East. If Trump tells the world to get your own oil, then the US will abdicate that role. This increases the geopolitical risk of oil.
Oil will then no longer be the only threat to the climate. But for the energy supply, because a country could suddenly have too little. For companies, because their costs could get out of control. For households because their living costs threaten to rise. For an entire economy because it could be pushed into recession. In short, it is a threat to the security of a country. This increases the incentive to look for alternatives.
These alternatives exist. They are no longer even more expensive than their oil-based competing products, but are generally even cheaper. Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman writes about a “technological miracle” on his Substack blog.
This “miracle” is traced by the International Organization for Renewable Energy (Irena), to which around 170 countries belong. Irena calls the speed at which costs have fallen simply “spectacular”.
Photovoltaics, for example, were already producing their electricity in 2024 at a total cost ten times lower than in 2010. According to Irena, fossil competitors can now hardly keep up with any renewable form of energy. In 2024, around 90 percent of newly commissioned renewable projects were “more cost-effective than any fossil alternative”.
The opponents are running out of arguments. They used to be able to point out that photovoltaics and wind turbines mainly deliver when the sun is shining brightly or the wind is blowing. But today, batteries are able to store electricity at a cost ten times lower than in 2010. This makes it possible for solar and wind energy to deliver when customers want it and not the weather.
This “miracle” explains the explosive growth in renewable energies even before the Iran war. In 2025, they accounted for exactly 85.6 percent of all newly commissioned electricity production, primarily thanks to wind and solar. Towards the end of 2025, renewable energies accounted for 49 percent of the electricity capacity already installed worldwide.
And all of this happened before Trump attacked Iran. So before the prices for crude oil, even more so for gasoline and even more so for diesel, rose sharply worldwide. Before the world had to puzzle over how high this, according to experts, “the biggest oil shock of all time” would drive prices. And before Trump drives up or down the price of crude oil – and thus the next tank load – with every angry Truth Social post.
The price of gasoline also rose sharply in the USA (Image: gas station in California).Image: keystone
Twice as much interest
In the midst of this chaos at the mercy of Trump, the “structural resilience” of renewable energies is shown with “brutal clarity,” according to Irena. They produce decentrally and at home, are cost-effective and can be used immediately. And if that isn’t clear enough, you’ll hear from Irena director Francesco La Camera:
“Countries that have invested in the energy transition are surviving this crisis with fewer economic losses.”
Drivers have apparently also discovered the economic advantages of renewable energies. Electric vehicles also offer some protection against the uncertainty of the global oil market. The “Financial Times” therefore headlines:
“The chaos on the oil market will massively accelerate the switch to electric cars.”
Before the war, electric cars did not spread as quickly as car manufacturers had once thought. But even with these growth rates, they would have completely displaced gasoline engines from important markets such as the EU and China in a decade and a half. Since the start of the war, US sales portals suddenly recorded 20 percent more searches for electric vehicles, and even 100 percent more for the most popular car models.
In other words: In times with Donald Trump as President of the USA, renewable energies also partially protect against his whims, his general chaos and his politics of the law of the strongest. (aargauerzeitung.ch)