During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump blamed then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris for gas prices in the United States. But the Washington Post, in October 2024, reported that U.S. gas prices had reached a "three-year low."
Nonetheless, Trump insists that his polices are conductive to lower gas prices while Democratic policies cause them to increase. But CNN business reporter Vanessa Yurkevich, during an early Wednesday afternoon, June 18 discussion, explained why Americans can "expect higher" gas prices during Trump's second presidency.
Yurkevich told her colleagues Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, "Gas prices follow oil prices, and oil prices in the last week or so have really jumped. Significantly today…. they're actually up right now. Earlier this morning, they were down slightly. But you can see the global benchmark for oil up 2.5 percent — excuse me, that's the U.S. benchmark for oil."
Yurkevich noted that "since the begging of May, oil prices have been up 15 dollars a barrel." And she cited the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran as a prime factor.
Israeli forces have been attacking Tehran, while Iranian forces have been attacking Tel Aviv — and fears that the conflict could spread to other countries in the Middle East are only adding to the tension.
"Investors are really nervous about where this conflict between Israel and Iran is going to go," Yurkevich told Blitzer and Brown. "Could there be a situation where the United States gets involved? Could Iran's oil fields be targeted? Could Iran choose to block the Strait of Hormuz? This is a critical passageway for 21 million barrels of oil every single day. Those are unknowns."
The CNN business reporter continued, "But what we do know, Wolf and Pam, is that gas prices, they're rising, and they have risen significantly just in the last week…. Today, the national average for a gallon of gas: $3.19, down from a year ago. But we could be creeping up to that higher level of $3.44 for a gallon. Gas prices have risen in every single state in this country except California in the last week…. So, consumers should expect higher prices."
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