Market News & Headlines >> White House Urges Biofuels Industry to Take RFS Deal

White House officials on Wednesday urged U.S. biofuel producers to accept the administration's offer to raise biofuel blending mandates next year by 5%, even if it falls short of their demands, and said a deal must be reached by Friday, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters News Service.  

The message was delivered by members of the White House's National Economic Council in a closed-door meeting with officials from major biofuel producing companies like Louis Dreyfus and Archer Daniels Midland, according to the sources, who asked not to be named.  

Another meeting between White House officials and members of the refining industry was set for later Wednesday afternoon, three other sources told Reuters, part the Trump administration's long-running effort to thread the needle between two crucial political constituencies that have clashed over biofuel policy.  

Last week, the administration told biofuel producers it would be willing to lift the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the fuel pool in 2020 under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard by 1 billion gallons above current proposed levels, to help the industry weather a downturn.