The mood inside the White House is reportedly tense as officials fear the ongoing war with Iran could push gas prices beyond the $5.02 a gallon record set under the Biden administration.
Maintaining low gas prices, a policy President Donald Trump campaigned on, had been a key talking point for the White House up until the president chose to start a war with Iran, causing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major traffic hub of oil, which led to higher oil prices.
“The White House staff is absolutely, totally freaked about bond yields and gas prices,” an unnamed person close to the White House told Politico.
As of May 22, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is around $4.55, according to AAA and GasBuddy. That is slowly creeping up to the $5.02 record-high set in June 2022, under former President Joe Biden.
One former Trump energy adviser reiterated the White House’s worry to the news outlet, saying, “Obviously, everyone’s stressed about gas prices and looking for levers to pull.”
open image in galleryWhite House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers disputed Politico’s reporting, saying it was “false” and that the news outlet was “relying on anonymous sources to push fake news.”
“President Trump and his energy team anticipated short-term market disruptions, communicated them openly to the American people, and implemented an aggressive plan to mitigate any impacts,” Rogers said in a statement, adding that the president would not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.
“When the President forces this conflict to a successful end, gas prices will drop back to multi-year lows and global energy markets will be much more stable in the long term,” Rogers added.
The Strait, through which roughly 25 percent of the world’s oil is transported, has faced on-again, off-again closures as a result of the war, making it difficult for oil tankers to pass safely.
With oil markets fluctuating and fears that oil supplies could be impacted, gas prices have risen dramatically. In March, the cost per gallon of regular gasoline surpassed $4 for the first time since 2022.
If the Iran war continues, gas prices could continue to rise, hitting a new record high by July 4, Patrick de Haan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, told Policito.
open image in galleryAlready, voters are angry at rising costs associated with the widely unpopular war. Trump’s approval rating is at an all-time low and recent polling from Fox News indicates the president is losing economic approval even among Republicans.
With midterm elections approaching, the president is hoping to maintain his majority in Congress to ensure he can implement more of his sweeping agenda in the final years of his term. But should inflation and gas prices continue to rise, Republican voters could be more inclined to support non-MAGA candidates.
The administration has attempted to implement several ideas to bring gas prices down. The Energy Department said it would release millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help supplies. Trump has directed his energy secretary to expand oil drilling operations to tap into more crude oil.
The president recently pitched suspending the 18-cent federal gas taxes – a move that would require congressional approval.
“There is definitely a concern of just not gas, but everything,” a former Trump administration official told Politco.
“Inflation is higher today than when Biden handed off the administration to Trump; that’s what they’re concerned about. … They’re freaking out about meat prices that they’re literally threatening Justice Department investigations into price fixing. I think they look at every benchmark and have concerns,” the former official said.