President Donald Trump defended the idea of Americans who paid less than $ 3 a gallon for gasoline during his fee speech. And even while raw oil markets are falling, fuel costs have remained stubborn above that level and seem to remain that way – at least for now.
“Gasoline is more than $ 3, and people have begun to be able to buy things and live again,” Trump told an audience in the White House rose garden Wednesday afternoon. But the average prices of American gasoline measured by the US Association of Vehicles were $ 3.26 a gallon while he delivered the speech, 13 cents higher than he took office on January 20. Gasoline has not cost US drivers less than $ 3 a gallon on average since 2021, when the US economy came out of the depth of Covid – the 19 Pandemic Pandemic who decorated travel demand.
However, Trump’s new taxes have an immediate effect on future fuel markets. The future of gasoline collapsed up to 8.2% and the future of oil fell up to 7% on Thursday as part of a wider road. The raw future in New York crashed up to 8%.
neverthelessPETROLEUMPricements are the biggest factor in the cost of producing a gasoline gallon in the US, falls into the future market does not usually bring immediate relief to customers at the pump, especially with the peak demand season only around the corner.
Refiners have to decide how much discounts will prove those known as shelf prices, the amount they charge fuel sellers such as gas stations and wholesalers. Those manufacturers and fuel vendors have little incentive to remove pump prices based on a day of trading in future unstable markets, especially as they are now enjoying the best borders. However, a more stable decrease in raw can eventually be interrupted in retail gasoline.
But in the meantime, SH.BA is going to the peak season of the car, which lasts from the holiday week of May commemoration day through working day in September, when Americans hit the road to summer vacation. Demand and fuel prices often increase in this period as demand grows and refineries go through making a more expensive gas grade in the warmer weather to meet emission regulations.
Some comforts for drivers are that fuel prices are unlikely to fall below $ 3 for gasoline, they are cheaper now than they have been in the last three years in the summer. Gasoline prices on Wednesday, after Trump took the podium, were about 30 cents a cheaper gallon than the same day of 2024.
This story was originally presented to Fortune.com