Gas prices refuse to give consumers a break like Donald Trump has promised - instead, they’re breaking records.
The cost of a gallon of gas has averaged at least $4 every day in August for the first time ever, motor club AAA announced. Relief likely isn’t in sight through the end of the month, either, as Trump’s Iran war drags on and the price of oil and other goods continues to rise.
“This month is poised to set a new record as the most expensive August at the pump, surpassing the previous August record set in 2022,” AAA said.
Gas was $4.09 for a gallon of regular gas on Friday morning, up $1.87 from one year ago, according to AAA.
Pump prices were highest in California at $5.65 and lowest in Indiana, where drivers in the Hoosier State paid $3.44 a gallon.
Persistently high oil prices are driving the record fuel costs at U.S. gas stations, AAA noted. Since the start of the Iran war on February 28, oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has crawled to a near halt multiple times over the past six months as boats avoid the passageway because of safety concerns.
Because the Strait sees 20 percent of the world’s oil supply pass through it, the slowdowns have pushed oil prices past $100 a barrel multiple times since late February.
Gas prices followed, with the average cost surging past $4 in March for the first time since August 2022. On May 1, prices jumped 9 cents in one night.
“The gas will go down as soon as the war is over. It will drop like a rock. There’s so much of it. It’s all over the place, sitting all over the oceans of the world, and it’ll go down,” Trump said in April.
“Gasoline Retailers must get their Prices down, IMMEDIATELY! They’re too high considering that Oil is now at $68 a Barrel, and heading south,” Trump demanded in June when he thought prices were too high.
Collectively, consumers had paid $59 billion more to fill their tanks from February 28 through May than the year before, a Moody’s economist estimated.
Gas prices’ ascent had a ripple effect on the rest of the economy. February’s inflation rate was 2.4 percent, then jumped to 3.8 percent in April and reached 4.2 percent by May.
As consumers wrangled their spending to account for a higher monthly gas bills - they cut back on everything from car maintenance to how much they drove to what they spent on daily expenses. That came as Trump said he wasn’t worried about high prices and it was more important to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
“I don't think about Americans’ financial situation — I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters in May.
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