Trump touts oil price drop on day before election

President Trump on Monday touted a new drop in oil prices during his closing pitch to voters ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $104 Monday afternoon, down from $112 earlier in the day. U.S. benchmark WTI was trading at about $96 per barrel, down from nearly $103.

The price drop came amid some signs of positivity in talks with Iran. Tehran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. agreed to meet certain conditions, but it is unclear if the U.S. will meet those conditions. There has also been talk in Washington of new strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.

The war has periodically seen closures of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane, as well as higher costs to transport oil even when ships have been allowed to pass through. Damage to oil infrastructure in that conflict and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have also put upward pressure on prices.

“Oil today is down $10,” Trump said Monday while delivering his closing midterm remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.

“It’s going to go down a lot further because we’re winning with Iran, easily winning,” he added.

Trump claimed that the decline was “the biggest drop in oil in history.”

Recent history has seen larger drops; during the COVID-19 pandemic, oil prices on one day briefly sank to about negative $38 per barrel , falling by far more than $10.

If Monday’s drop is sustained, it could be good news for prices at the pump in the days and weeks ahead, but it can also take time for changes in the price of oil to reflect in gasoline and diesel.

Voters’ discontent with these prices is expected to be a major factor in the election. As of Monday, the average U.S. gasoline price was around $4.17 per gallon, up $1.13 from the same time last year, according to AAA .