The surge in US gasoline prices from the Iran war appears to have crested, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.
“It looks like they peaked about a week or so ago,” Wright said during testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday.
The 35% jump US gasoline prices over the past seven-plus weeks has grown into one of the biggest political liabilities from the conflict for US President Donald Trump. The increases, which have pushed the national average to as high as $4.17 a gallon, threaten to stoke inflation and blot out one of the biggest bright spots of Trump’s energy agenda as the November midterm elections approach.
Gasoline prices, which peaked April 8, have declined for 11 of the past 12 days. The national average was $4.02 a gallon on Monday, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s up from less than $3 a gallon before the war began Feb. 28.
Yet with peace talks up in the air and the Strait of Hormuz still all-but blocked, it’s not clear where prices are heading from here, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said.
“It’s a bit premature to call it a peak,” De Haan said in an email. “The issues remain outstanding.”
Wright noted prices remain below the $5.02 a gallon average high reached in June 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when Joe Biden was president.
In an interview Sunday on CNN, Wright said US gasoline prices may remain at $3 a gallon or higher until next year.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with the Hill, said he disagreed with that assessment.
Asked by Senator Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, if he stood by that statement, Wright said: “I don’t know the future of energy prices, often I will speculate or look at those things.”
Written by: Ari Natter and Will Kubzansky @Bloomberg
The post “US Gasoline Prices Likely Peaked Last Week, Energy Secretary Wright Says” first appeared on Bloomberg