Gas prices are back above $4 a gallon as President Donald Trump’s war with Iran escalates.
The U.S. average for a gallon of regular gas was $4.003 Monday morning, rising nearly 13 cents in a week, according to motor club AAA.
Americans had endured nearly three months of soaring gas prices after the U.S. launched military strikes on Iran on February 28. Gas prices climbed past $4 in early March and remained above that threshold until mid-June, according to AAA.
The renewed U.S. attacks against Iran in the past week include a blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that transports 20 percent of the world's oil supply.
Similar blockades and the threat of military attacks on tankers led to a virtual standstill in Strait shipping after the start of the war, driving oil prices past $100 a barrel in March for the first time in nearly four years.
Gas prices followed and at one point jumped nine cents overnight in early May.
The war’s impact wreaked havoc on consumers’ wallets. American drivers paid more than $59 billion in added gas spending by June 1 because of the higher prices.
At one point, a JP Morgan analyst warned that the threat of $5 gas could “no longer be missed.”
Consumers responded by making trade-offs to afford gas, including putting off necessary vehicle maintenance and cutting back on subscription services.
The impact of gas prices was so severe over the past four months that it pushed inflation from 2.4 percent in February to 3.8 percent in March and a four-year high of 4.2 percent in May.
The Trump administration seemed immune to consumers’ struggles. On multiple occasions, the president said that stopping Iran from using nuclear weapons was more important to him than the average American’s financial struggles.
When asked by a reporter what he thought of May’s 4.2-percent inflation rate, the president responded: “I love the inflation.”
The economy showed signs of recovery in June - inflation fell to 3.5 percent, the largest month-on-month decline in three years.
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