Gas prices continue to rise throughout the country even while President Donald Trump touts low prices at the pumps. The national average cost for a gallon of regular gas jumped to $3.15 per gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA.
The latest increase at the pumps comes after fuel costs decreased for weeks in March. Wednesday’s price is a slight rise from Tuesday’s price for regular gas of $3.139 per gallon. It’s also an increase compared to a week ago when the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.102. Eight days ago, the average gas price for a gallon of regular was $3.078. The latest wave of gas prices comes after the Trump administration celebrated March’s (up until recently) lower gas prices on March 17.
However, an even more troubling sign is that gas prices are now more expensive than a month ago, when a gallon of regular gas was $3.134. Wednesday’s increase also comes after Trump mentioned that gas prices have fallen in an interview on Tuesday with Newsmax’s Greg Kelly. The saving grace for the Trump administration’s lower gas prices claims is that fuel costs are less expensive, substantially so, than a year ago, when regular gas cost $3.533 per gallon. However, this is mainly due to gas prices falling during the last several months of the Biden administration, reaching a three-and-a-half-year-low of $3.011 per gallon on Dec. 10.
Gas costs are traditionally a controversial topic in the country’s political discourse, as prices at the pumps are connected to several economic factors for people. High gas prices mean less disposable income for most in the country, a reality that may never have been truer than during the years of the Biden administration when the price of gas soared to record highs. It was also a stark contrast to gas prices during Trump’s first term, when the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.476 between Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2021. Shortly after Biden took office in Jan. 2021, fuel costs jumped to over $3 per gallon.
Gas costs remained above $3 per gallon during Biden’s entire presidency. Americans were burdened with high gas prices, including a record high of $5 per gallon, achieving a national average price of $5.032 per gallon for regular gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association – the highest in the nation’s history. Gas prices remained extraordinarily high the following month, albeit with a slight decrease, dropping to $4.92 per gallon.
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Prices gradually dropped in July 2022 and continued to fall for the remainder of the year. Over the next two years, gas prices fluctuated but remained higher than when Trump was in office. By April 2024, fuel costs peaked for the year before starting to decrease again in May. Prices would continue to decline steadily for the remainder of the year, dropping to a national average price of $3.01 per gallon mentioned above.
Gas prices vary throughout the country, depending on the area, region, and state in which one lives. Mississippi has the least expensive gas prices in the country, at $2.676 per gallon. California has the most expensive gas for a gallon of regular, with a statewide average cost of $4.651, much higher than the national average.