GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan on Monday said that ordinary Americans had spent over $28 billion extra at the gas stations as President Donald Trump mulls rescinding the federal gas tax.
Iran War Premium
In a post on X, De Haan shared that the possible elimination of the “18.4¢ federal gas tax” could do little to provide relief to people, as the “Iran war premium” added approximately “$1.35 per gallon” at the pump, costing over $28 billion since the war began.
Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) official Press Office handle quoted De Haan’s post, delivering sharp criticism of Trump. “IT IS LONG PAST TIME TO ELIMINATE THE IRAN WAR GAS PREMIUM BEING CHARGED TO EVERY AMERICAN!!” the post said.
In a separate post, De Haan also outlined that eliminating the Federal gas tax in the short term may not be enough as “motorists would need that tax holiday to last about 406 days- more than 13 months- just to offset those added costs,” he said in the post.
Chris Wright Says America In “Tremendous Position”
As gas prices surge and the war with Iran continues, Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright avoided making predictions about when gas prices would fall below $3/gallon in the U.S. He said there could be a fall once there is “free flow” of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
He reiterated that the U.S. was in a “tremendous position,” reaffirming the country’s energy sector’s prowess, and touting that the U.S. was by far the “world’s largest producer of oil.”
Iran War
Trump, on Monday, cautioned that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was on “life support” after rejecting a response by the Iranian government to a U.S.-backed proposal to end the conflict. The President had called the response “totally unacceptable” as Iran’s response reportedly called for relief from sanctions imposed on the country.
Gas Prices On Monday
Meanwhile, data collated by the American Automobile Association (AAA) illustrated a slight decline in the national average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S., which was at $4.520. California once again had the highest gas prices at over $6.158/gallon. On the diesel front, the current national average price was $5.636/gallon. Diesel in California, on Monday, cost $7.449/gallon.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, on the other hand, was trading at $98.83/barrel at the time of writing this article. Brent, meanwhile, commanded a $105/barrel price at press time. The United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), which is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the WTI crude, declined 0.37% to $138.64 during the after-hours trading on Monday.
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