Donald Trump said prices were going to be lower when he got back into office. Explain, then, how gas prices are up 21 cents a gallon from a month ago.
That’s how much more we’re paying in Virginia, where the average price at the pump is $3.09 a gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy.
Diesel is also up 4.4 cents just over the past week, at $3.65 a gallon.
And it could get worse. GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said the industry will be monitoring the potential impact of threatened U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we import 4.6 million barrels of oil per day from Canada and Mexico, accounting for 22.7 percent of what we use.
Trump gave a speech at the World Economic Forum last week urging Saudi Arabia to increase production, and that has led to a $5-per-barrel drop in the price of oil on worldwide markets.
The impact on the U.S. market would be minimal there, though – we import 349,000 barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, according to the EIA, about 1.7 percent of our daily usage.
Which leaves us, where, exactly?
“I remain hopeful that tariffs won’t materialize, and gas prices could stay relatively stable over the next few weeks, at least until the seasonal rise in prices begins in mid-to-late February,” De Haan said.
There, he said – we have to hope that Trump doesn’t start a trade war that will push prices even higher than they are now, which is higher than they were a month ago.
Video: Why are gas prices going up Mr. President?
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Chris Graham
