US gas prices aren’t almost $9, as Trump claimed
CLAIM: Gas prices in the U.S. have risen to almost $9 per gallon.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Gas prices in the U.S., while high, are on average much lower than $9 per gallon. The national average gas price is around $4.60 per gallon, while the state with the highest average is California at roughly $6.10, according to multiple estimates.
THE FACTS: A video clip of former President Donald Trump claiming at a Saturday rally in Casper, Wyoming, that gas prices in the U.S. are now “close to” $9 per gallon has circulated widely on social media.
“We had $1.87 per gallon gasoline, think of that, now it’s going to close to $9 today,” Trump said during the rally. “That’s like three massive tax increases.” The clip has circulated on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Rumble.
Trump made a similar claim during his speech at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston, Texas on Friday, saying, “Gasoline just hit in a lot of places today, $9.25.”
It is accurate that the average national price of gas was as low as $1.87 per gallon at one point during the Trump administration. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows it reached that average price around May 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when much of the country was locked down. When Trump left office in January 2021, it was around $2.40 per gallon.
But while prices at the pump have gone up significantly since then, the claim that they have now risen to almost $9 per gallon is false. The national average gas price was around $4.60 per gallon on Sunday, according to AAA. GasBuddy, a company that tracks gas prices nationally, also reported a similar price estimate on Sunday. The state with the highest average gas price on Sunday was California at a little over $6.10 per gallon, according to both sources.
Three gas stations in California saw prices above $8 per gallon over the past 48 hours, with a station in Furnace Creek coming in at $8.59 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. But those prices are outliers, and are certainly not comparable with a national average from 2020.
“Obviously the national average is close to half of $9,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told The Associated Press. “It’s a very misleading claim.”
“There is not a single station that I’m aware of that is at $9,” he added. “With maybe two or three exceptions, there are no stations selling at even $8.”
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.
Gas prices this year are the most expensive in U.S. history, the AP reported Thursday. The steep price of oil, largely because many buyers are refusing to purchase Russian oil due to its invasion of Ukraine, is the primary cause of high gasoline prices.
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Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Trump left office in January 2021, not January 2020. This story has also been updated to reflect the average price of gas at that time.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.