Labor Day gas has never been this expensive. Trump is scrambling for answers

Americans will likely face the highest Labor Day gas prices on record this holiday weekend. It's another blow to a "drill, baby, drill" president who campaigned on affordable energy.

President Donald Trump's war with Iran isn't just driving up prices at the gas pump . Diesel, a crucial fuel at the heart of the modern economy, hit an all-time high Friday. Jet fuel costs have skyrocketed, too, leading airlines to hike airfare and baggage fees while cutting less profitable flights.

The energy sticker shock has put pressure on the Trump administration to come up with answers ahead of the midterms.

Trump took a flurry of actions this week: He called refining executives to the White House, unveiled a blockbuster oil deal with Venezuela and launched new air strikes in response to Iranian attacks on tankers trying to navigate the Strait of Hormuz.

Before this, Trump already eased regulations to speed up deliveries of fuel and presided over a historic release of emergency oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which hasn't been this empty since the early 1980s .

But the reality is that there are no easy solutions to this problem vexing the White House.

US refiners are running as hard as they can to make up for the loss of refining capacity elsewhere. Venezuela is unlikely to deliver a major increase in oil supplies for many years – perhaps not until 2035.

"Realistically, the administration will have a tough time doing much about gasoline in the short term. They've already pulled most of the levers they can," said Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday declined to set a timeline for when gas prices will drop back to pre-war levels.

"I'm not going to make a promise about when it's going to return to $3," Vance said during a White House press briefing.

After an early summer lull, gas prices climbed again and hit a three-month high Thursday.

GasBuddy expects gas prices will be at least $4.03 a gallon on Labor Day, compared with just $3.16 last Labor Day. This would surpass the prior record of $3.83 for the holiday set in 2012.

"The pain is adding up. Unlike in 2022 (when Russia invaded Ukraine), the pressure has lingered for six months," said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis. "And there's no schedule for when there will be relief."

Of course, gas prices don't seem nearly as high when accounting for inflation and wage gains.

When adjusted for inflation, the record high for Labor Day gas prices was in 2008 at $5.63 a gallon using 2026 dollars. On that basis, Labor Day gas prices were higher in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and in 2022 compared to today.