Gas prices are displayed at a gas station as the prices of oil and gas surge, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Titusville, Florida, U.S., March 31, 2026.
Gas prices have skyrocketed as a consequence of President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, and according to a new estimate from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, American drivers have paid an extra $8.4 billion since the war began just one month ago.
The report was released as the national average cost of gas topped $4 a gallon, and its math was based on a combination of three metrics: daily average gas prices per AAA, vehicle tank sizes per the automotive resource Edmunds, and federal fuel consumption data from the Federal Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration.
According to the report’s findings, drivers of the fuel-sipping Toyota Camry are now paying $52.23 to fill up a tank, up by nearly $14 since before the war. For drivers of larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles, a much bigger shock is coming at the pump. The Ford F-150, for example, now costs just shy of $150 per tank, up nearly $40.
"The strain is starting to show, especially as gas hits $4 a gallon nationwide," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. "It's almost certainly going to be a muted second quarter for spending and GDP growth as the worst of the inflation shock hits consumers."
She based her assessment in part on the March 31 report from the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which revealed that fewer Americans plan on buying high-cost items over the next six months. In another report by LendingTree, it was found that roughly one in three Americans are changing their spending habits to cope with increasing gas prices, with 35 percent saying they’ll need to adjust their budgets if fuel costs don’t come down.
The states worst hit have been Texas, California, Florida and North Carolina.
Trump, who has previously stated that the high costs during the war don’t “matter” to him, delivered a national address Wednesday night in which he said the war would continue for weeks and that he had no plans to open the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which has played a key role in driving up gas prices.
In the address, Trump asserted that the “increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.”
He failed to mention the fact that Iran began these attacks only after the U.S. and Israel launched the war.
