Trump energy secretary says gas prices might not drop back under $3 a gallon until 2027 | Trump administration
Chris Wright, the Trump administration’s energy secretary, acknowledged Sunday that it may not be until 2027 for U.S. gas prices to fall below $3 per gallon.
asked By: CNN When State of the Union anchor Jake Tapper mused, “It’s realistic for Americans to expect gas to go below $3 per gallon,” Wright replied: “I don’t know. That might happen later this year. That might not happen until next year.”
Wright then continued without elaborating that “prices have probably peaked and will begin to decline.” He said that energy prices “will fall” after the conclusion of the Iran war, which the US started with Israel in late February.
Tapper pressed Wright on whether 2027 could be the year for gasoline prices to drop below $3 per gallon, which was December’s level, due to the influence of the Trump administration. launched.
Wright apparently gave up and said: “Under $3 a gallon in inflation-adjusted terms is pretty tremendous. We had that under Trump, but we haven’t seen that in inflation-adjusted terms in a long time. We’ll definitely get back there.”
As Donald Trump successfully ran for a second term as president in November 2024, he ran an aggressive campaign with the promise of lowering gas prices. He even promised to drop gas prices below $2 per gallon.
“Energy will bring us back,” he said in September 2024. campaign speech. “That means we’ll bring gasoline down to under $2 per gallon, lowering the price of everything from electric rates to groceries to plane tickets to housing costs.”
US gasoline prices rose after Iran responded to US and Israeli attacks by twice closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the world’s oil and petroleum supplies pass.
they were there $2.98 per gallon It rose to an average of $3.98 per gallon in the days before the start of the Iran war, and rose to an average of $3.98 in late March.
US gasoline price averages stabilized More than $4 per gallon In April, the war is expected to lead to an increase in the cost of other goods and services.
One NBC poll More than 32,000 adults estimated Sunday that between 67 percent and 68 percent of the public “somewhat” or “strongly” disapproved of Trump’s handling of the war in Iran as well as “inflation and the cost of living” at home.
Wright’s comments on Sunday differed from positions he had taken in previous interviews.
During March 15 speech Wright was asked on NBC’s Meet the Press whether gas prices in the U.S. could fall below $3 per gallon by the summer, and he said there’s “a very good chance that’s true.”
Wright also said Tapper on the increase in gas prices on March 8: “Worst case this is a week, this is not a month thing.”
