The national average price of gas is at its highest level ever for this late in the calendar year amid the Trump administration’s efforts to ease elevated prices.
The U.S. average price of gasoline rose above $4 per gallon for the third time this year, setting a new record, Gasbuddy price analyst Patrick De Haan wrote Wednesday on X. He added that an average price above $4 per gallon is a level that has never been reached this late in a calendar year.
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Oil and gas prices have fluctuated but have stayed relatively high since the war in the Middle East began in February. The average price of gas a year ago was roughly $3.14 per gallon, according to AAA.
The war in Iran has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global trading route, remaining closed and increasing global energy prices. President Donald Trump warned last week that gas prices could climb as the war continues.
“As soon as the situation with Iran ends, oil is going to go down, and we will have completed something in such a short amount of time, that is a miracle,” Trump said in Las Vegas last week.
“When oil goes down, and it’s going to go down very rapidly, and is already happening. We may have to send it up again. We may have to — you know what happens when we send it up,” Trump later added, referring to prices reacting to warfare. “But we don’t have to. But when the oil and gasoline go down, everything else goes down.”
With less than 100 days until the midterm elections, there is mounting pressure on the Trump administration to address the high gas prices.
The administration has taken a range of steps to combat prices, including waiving the Jones Act, a maritime law that requires goods to be transported using U.S. ships and crews. The administration has also issued an emergency order allowing the sale of higher-ethanol gasoline blends and has released oil reserves, which recently hit their lowest level since early 1983.
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Trump has publicly pressured major oil companies to cut gas prices. Earlier this month, the president expressed dissatisfaction with oil giants such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil for making “too much” in profits in the second quarter of the year.
