US President Donald Trump instructed gasoline retailers to immediately lower prices, warning of 'big problems' otherwise.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said, 'Gasoline retailers should lower their prices IMMEDIATELY.' The president wrote, 'If retailers don't do this, big problems are coming. Start targeting around $2.50 per gallon.'
Trump also specifically targeted California, calling on the state to reduce its taxes on gasoline. 'Soon the tax will be higher than the product itself, and the US will not allow it, just as the people of California, exploited by their own government with these absurd taxes, will not allow it,' he said.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom is known as one of Trump's harshest critics during his second term. California is also focusing on renewable energy and aims to have a carbon-neutral electric grid within 20 years.
However, with gasoline prices rising since the US-Israel war on Iran, the Trump administration is encouraging more domestic fuel production and has invoked emergency powers to restart an oil pipeline in California that was shut down after a major leak in 2015.
Last week, Trump also announced an investigation into major oil companies over high gasoline prices. In a Truth Social post on June 24, he said, 'Big Oil companies are not lowering pump prices in proportion to the sharply falling prices they are paying for oil. These prices are falling like a rock. In other words, customers are being ripped off. I have instructed the Department of Justice to begin investigating this matter immediately.'
Trump's demand for lower gasoline prices comes at a time when he is facing criticism for launching a war on Iran and its impact on costs for millions of Americans, with midterm elections approaching in November. The president has repeatedly said that fuel prices will 'fall like a rock' after the conflict with Iran ends, but economists dispute Trump's claims, forecasting longer-term economic repercussions due to the conflict.
