evidence: The U.S. president can create "a more optimal environment" for domestic energy firms and "encourage other oil-producing countries to produce more or produce less," said Helima Croft, the managing director and global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, a financial firm. However, "he’s not going to be able to increase U.S. oil production by his signature in a way that would materially bring oil prices down by half," she said. Trump, seeking a second term as president, has made achieving "energy dominance" key to his economic pitch. He has slammed rival Vice President Kamala Harris’ previous opposition to fracking along with the Biden-Harris administration’s green energy efforts. Instead, Trump calls to "drill, baby, drill" for fossil fuels — "liquid gold under our feet," in his words — to bring down Americans’ electricity costs and pump prices. [...] Already, the U.S. is producing more crude oil than any country in history, surpassing both Russia and Saudi Arabia every year since 2018, federal data show. Domestic production hit a record 12.9 million barrels a day, on average, last year.