The surge past the $3.50 threshold offers voters already concerned about affordability in Trump\u2019s economy another leading inflation indicator \u2014 visible up and down the country\u2019s roads. <\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans fill up 50 times a year. That\u2019s 50 chances to regret their last vote,\u201d said Kevin Book, head of research at ClearView Energy Partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prices at the pump have increased for 11 straight days and analysts expect the rise to continue as long as crude, the fuel\u2019s feedstock, remains elevated by Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a fifth of the world\u2019s oil supplies. <\/p>\n
The Trump<\/a> administration has tried to douse the price rally since the president launched the war, saying it would insure oil tankers travelling through the strait or deploy US Navy escorts to protect them from attack. <\/p>\n But western countries\u2019 decision on Wednesday to unleash record amounts of stored oil and comments from Trump that he would release a \u201clittle bit\u201d of crude from the US\u2019s own stockpile have failed to halt the price rise.<\/p>\n West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, has risen more than a third since the US and Israel first struck Tehran late last month. It settled at $87.25 a barrel on Wednesday, up 4.6 per cent. <\/p>\n Later on Wednesday, energy secretary Chris Wright confirmed the US would release 172mn barrels of oil from its reserves as part of the international effort.<\/p>\n At US petrol stations, the sharp rise in pump prices is stoking frustration among voters.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t understand why we\u2019re in Iran,\u201d said Alexa Reese, who was at a Shell station in Nashville\u2019s Green Hills neighbourhood, where petrol cost $3.40. She said she had also noticed the rise in costs when she bought a recent plane ticket. <\/p>\n An Ipsos poll<\/a> carried out in recent days showed about two-thirds of Americans expected petrol prices to get more expensive over the next year. About half said they expected the war to negatively affect their personal finances. <\/p>\n Jesse Brown, a retiree in Nashville, said he blamed energy companies rather than politicians for the price rises. \u201c[Joe] Biden didn\u2019t have control of the gas prices and neither does Trump,\u201d he said. \u201cPrice gouging used to be illegal. I am not sure what happened to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump was in neighbouring Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic achievements, where he said his administration was \u201cworking to keep the oil flowing\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOil prices are already coming back down, and it\u2019s going to come down, but we\u2019re not leaving until that job is finished,\u201d he told a crowd of supporters. <\/p>\n The president has insisted in recent days that the increase in prices would be \u201cshort term\u201d and said they would \u201cdrop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over\u201d. On Sunday, Trump described high oil prices is a social media post as \u201ca very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has been clear that these are short-term disruptions,\u201d Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. <\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, once the military objectives are completed and the Iranian terrorist regime is neutralised, oil and gas prices will drop rapidly again, potentially even lower than before the strikes began. As a result, American families will benefit greatly in the long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n American petrol prices hit their historic peak above $5 following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 during Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, but fell to about $2.80 by the time he left office. Despite the recent rise, US prices remain about half those in many European countries, including the UK. <\/p>\n The US energy department forecast this week<\/a> that petrol prices would not return to their pre-conflict levels before the end of 2027.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/666409b2-d29a-4177-8963-6be6416de75a.jpg\")
Petrol prices rose to $3.58 a gallon on Wednesday \u00a9 Reuters<\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2Fbaf14c.jpeg\")
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