Gasoline Prices Under Trump Surpass Biden-Era Average

(Bloomberg) -- The average price Americans are paying for gasoline under President Donald Trump has overtaken the average during the Biden administration, underscoring the political pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump had pledged to lower gasoline prices to below $2 a gallon, but almost two years into his presidency the fuel's retail cost has averaged $3.472 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. That surpassed the average under former President Joe Biden of $3.471 a gallon by less than a cent, according to daily AAA data released Monday.

Gasoline prices surged this year after the start of the US and Israel's war in Iran, crippling oil flows and further squeezing global refining capacity. Over the past eight months, US average pump prices have risen over $1 a gallon while diesel prices have surged almost $3 a gallon and topped the highest level on record.

Americans have never paid this much for fuel this late in the year, with a national average price of $4.286 a gallon as of Sunday, according to AAA. Biden still holds the record for the single-highest nationwide gasoline price of $5.02 a gallon in June 2022, in the months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The global market is missing around 400,000 barrels a day of gasoline that would normally be exported from the Middle East, said Susan Bell, senior vice president, downstream at Rystad Energy.

The cost of diesel has been the main focus for the Trump administration in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections with prices reaching a record high of $6.53 a gallon last month. Surging fuel prices have vexed inflation-weary voters and are proving to be a sticking point for Trump's Republican party.

Average prices of diesel under Trump has already exceed the same figure under Biden by about 6%. Trump invoked war-time powers on Thursday to boost fuel production in the US, with the Department of Energy announcing Friday that it has $150 million earmarked for investments in refineries.