President Trump said he instructed the Justice Department to look into major oil companies, accusing them of “gouging” customers by not lowering gasoline pump prices in line with falling crude costs.
The average U.S. gasoline price stood at $3.928 per gallon on Wednesday, down from $4.515 a month ago.
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump said in a social-media post early on Wednesday. “In other words, customers are being ‘gouged,’” he wrote. He didn’t name specific companies.
The remarks come as global oil prices retreat on optimism over improved shipping conditions through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Iran reached an interim deal to end the war. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil gauge, has fallen more than 25% so far this month.
U.S. gasoline prices have also eased from recent highs. The national average stood at $3.928 per gallon on Wednesday, down from $4.515 a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA.
Energy markets were rocked by the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, with the near-closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway choking off 20% of the world’s oil supplies and pushing U.S. gasoline prices to their highest levels since July 2022.
These soaring fuel costs pushed U.S. inflation to its highest rate in three years in April. Americans are highly sensitive to pump prices, with the average driver covering about 13,000 miles annually, according to federal data.
State and local taxes are embedded in U.S. gasoline prices, though according to S&P Global Energy, the country applies one of the lowest overall tax burdens globally. American consumers paid an average $3.64 a gallon in March, of which roughly 60 cents reflected combined federal and state taxes.
Gasoline prices don’t adjust immediately to crude oil changes because the effect moves through the supply chain—taking weeks to travel through pipelines, process at refineries, and be distributed.
