U.S. Oil Prices in Trump’s Second Term Surpass Biden-Era Levels ... Ukraine and Gaza War Shocks Pale in Comparison

[Financial News] After nearly two years of Donald Trump’s second administration, the U.S. average gasoline price has risen above the level during the Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. administration, when the wars in Ukraine and Gaza broke out. Local fuel prices are expected to have a major impact on the outcome of the November midterm elections.
CNN reported on the 26th (local time), citing data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), that the average U.S. consumer price for gasoline that day was $4.29 a gallon (3.78 L), a sharp increase from $3.12 on January 20 last year, when Trump’s second administration began. The average price since the start of Trump’s second term was found to be $3.472 a gallon.
That figure is not only higher than the average price of $3.471 during the Biden administration (January 2021–January 2025), but also exceeds the $2.47 average during Trump’s first administration (January 2017–January 2021).
The average U.S. diesel price during Trump’s second administration also reached $4.343 a gallon, surpassing the Biden administration’s average of $4.078. On the 22nd of last month, the U.S. diesel price hit an all-time high of $6.523 a gallon.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump fiercely attacked former President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., accusing him of failing to rein in fuel prices. International oil prices fluctuated sharply amid Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the outbreak of war in Gaza, Palestine, in 2023. During Trump’s first term, however, oil prices had been on a downward trajectory as demand plunged with the spread of COVID-19. As of April 2020, the average U.S. consumer price for gasoline had fallen to as low as $1.77 a gallon, and prices in the crude oil futures market even temporarily dipped into negative territory.
But oil prices surged at a faster pace than before after Trump attacked Iran last February. Prices, which had been in the $70s per barrel before the war, jumped to $110 this month.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at U.S. market research firm GasBuddy, called it “quite surprising” that gasoline prices during Trump’s second administration had surpassed those during the Biden administration, adding, “No one could have expected this situation even 10 months ago.”
The rise in oil prices is also expected to be a factor in the U.S. midterm elections taking place on November 3. According to a poll released on the 8th by U.S. polling organization Pew Research Center, 74% of respondents named gasoline and energy prices as the most important issue in the U.S. economy today.
[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter