President Donald Trump has called for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to “immediately” investigate possible gasoline price gouging as prices at the pump are slow to drop after the Strait of Hormuz was reopened during U.S.-Iran negotiations.
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil. Those prices are dropping like a rock!” Trump proclaimed in a Truth Social post early on Wednesday. “In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’”
“I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this,” he added. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
After the signing of an initial memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices, the American benchmark, were under $70 per barrel as of Wednesday, down from about $112 per barrel in April.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was about $3.93 per gallon. This is lower than $4.52 a month prior, but more than $0.70 higher than the average price a year ago, according to AAA.
The opening of the Strait improved crude and gasoline supplies, though stockpiles were depleted during the military actions in the Middle East as countries tried to soften price hikes.
In another post on Wednesday, Trump added that Iran committed to imposing zero tolls on ships traveling through the important waterway, which should help to move traffic out of the oil-rich Gulf countries to export to other nations around the globe.
“Iran has informed the U.S. that, despite troublemaking Fake News reporting to the contrary, there are NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ. If this is false information, negotiations would end, immediately!” he clarified.
Hellbound and Down 