{"id":735236,"date":"2026-06-30T17:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/735236\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:33:10","slug":"gas-prices-under-scrutiny-as-bessent-vows-to-hold-retailers-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/735236\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas prices under scrutiny as Bessent vows to hold retailers accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent joins &#8216;Fox &amp; Friends&#8217; to discuss America&#8217;s economic future, including the benefits of Trump Accounts for families with newborns and the administration&#8217;s efforts to lower gas costs amidst concerns over the Iran war.<\/p>\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned gasoline retailers that the Trump administration is &#8220;watching&#8221; pump prices and expects them to pass lower oil costs on to Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Fox &amp; Friends,&#8221;<\/a> Bessent&#8217;s comments came a day after President Donald Trump urged gas stations to lower prices to around $2.50 per gallon following a decline in crude oil prices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would encourage them to be good actors, especially in the 250th anniversary, because we&#8217;re watching,&#8221; Bessent said Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/trump-declares-food-supply-emergency-suspends-tariffs-key-fertilizer-imports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TRUMP DECLARES FOOD SUPPLY EMERGENCY, SUSPENDS TARIFFS ON KEY FERTILIZER IMPORTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/scott-bessent-gas-prices-fox-news.jpg\" alt=\"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrives for House committee hearing.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived before testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on June 4, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Gas prices rose during the conflict between Israel and Iran, though prices have eased since the onset of the fighting. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/trump-demands-gas-stations-lower-pump-prices-immediately-renews-push-2-50-gasoline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">AAA national average<\/a> for regular gas was $3.860 per gallon as of June 29, down from $4.391 a month earlier but still higher than the year-earlier average of $3.187.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/american-airlines-delay-strands-gop-lawmaker-causes-3-house-members-miss-votes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">AMERICAN AIRLINES DELAY STRANDS GOP LAWMAKER, CAUSES 3 HOUSE MEMBERS TO MISS VOTES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Higher fuel costs have squeezed consumers and businesses alike, with some California small business owners saying they&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/california-business-owners-working-for-peanuts-costs-record-gas-prices-regulations-devour-profits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;working for peanuts&#8221;<\/a> just to keep their doors open. But Bessent said that as crude oil prices decline, he&#8217;ll be watching gasoline retailers to ensure savings are passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n<p>As labor and energy costs rise in California, small business owners say minimum wage laws and gas taxes in the Golden State are crippling their operations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019ve got a chart of how quickly the prices went up and how they followed crude, and we&#8217;re going to hold them accountable on the other side,&#8221; he said, calling Trump\u2019s Truth Social post on the issue &#8220;powerful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The president wrote on Truth Social earlier this week, &#8220;Gasoline Retailers must get their Prices down, IMMEDIATELY!&#8221; and added that &#8220;They\u2019re too high considering that Oil is now at $68 a Barrel, and heading south.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/media\/tech-ceo-predicts-ai-glasses-turn-americans-walking-cameras-next-tech-era-arrives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TECH CEO PREDICTS AI GLASSES WILL TURN AMERICANS INTO &#8216;WALKING CAMERAS&#8217; AS NEXT TECH ERA ARRIVES<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Retailers must quickly react to this statement, and do what they know is right \u2014 DROP YOUR PRICE FOR OUR GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE!&#8221; he continued. &#8220;There will be no gauging, which is totally illegal. If Retailers don\u2019t do this, big problems lie ahead!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bessent said stations often benefit when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/oil\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">oil prices spike<\/a> and argued it is now time to provide relief for the public. &#8220;They\u2019re making an extra margin there, and they probably had record profits on gasoline retailing. Now it&#8217;s time to do something for the American people,&#8221; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital&#8217;s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discusses declining crude and gasoline prices, a well-supplied oil market, and the impact of the president&#8217;s tax policies, including tax refunds and manufacturing construction growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent joins &#8216;Fox &amp; Friends&#8217; to discuss America&#8217;s economic future, including the benefits of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-735236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}