Trump presses gas retailers to cut prices to $2.50 a gallon
After oil fell to $68 a barrel, Trump demanded lower pump prices while the Supreme Court blocked his attempt to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
President Donald Trump is pressing gasoline retailers to cut pump prices, setting a $2.50-a-gallon target as high fuel costs remain a political and economic pressure point. The demand comes after oil prices eased from levels reached during the U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, according to Fortune.
Trump wrote on Truth Social early Tuesday that gasoline retailers should lower prices “IMMEDIATELY,” saying they were too high with oil at $68 a barrel and declining. He said retailers should “DROP YOUR PRICE FOR OUR GREAT AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that gasoline prices rose 40.5% in the 12 months through May 2026. Fuel oil rose 58.9% over the same period, according to the BLS.
Fortune reported that the earlier jump followed pressure on global oil supply tied to the U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, which threatened supply routes from the Middle East. Oil prices have since moved lower as the conflict appeared to be nearing an end, Fortune reported, but gasoline prices have stayed high.
AAA says pump prices remain above last year
AAA listed the national average price for regular gasoline at $3.85 a gallon. That was lower than $4.36 a month earlier, according to AAA, but higher than the $3.19 average recorded a year earlier.
Trump also wrote Monday night that there would be no “gauging,” a word Fortune reported appeared to refer to price gouging. He warned that retailers that do not lower prices could face “big problems,” and he called for stations to charge $2.50 a gallon.
The gasoline push follows Trump’s pressure campaign against the Federal Reserve over interest rates. The BLS puts U.S. inflation at 4.2%, above the Fed’s 2% target.
Trump had argued that the Fed under former Chair Jerome Powell kept its benchmark rate too high, limiting cheaper borrowing and making home purchases harder for consumers, according to Fortune. Trump also launched criminal probes into Powell and Fed Governor Lisa Cook and publicly attacked Powell’s intelligence, Fortune reported.
Powell has since left the Fed chair role. Trump’s nominee to replace him, Kevin Warsh, did not cut rates at his first Federal Open Market Committee meeting as chair earlier this month, according to Fortune.
Supreme Court rejects removal of Cook
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 that Trump was wrong to try to remove Cook last August because she had not received due process, Fortune reported. The decision kept in place protections that limit White House interference with the central bank.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Cook was entitled to notice and “some opportunity to respond” before being terminated. Roberts also rejected Trump’s argument that presidents could remove a Fed member “at any time, for any reason, without any notice before, and without any judicial check,” saying that position would reduce for-cause protections to at-will employment.
Roberts wrote that the Federal Reserve’s independence must be preserved in both substance and perception. “Not only the fact of independence but also the appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design,” he wrote.
Fortune reported that the ruling dealt another setback to the White House’s effort to exert broader control over market prices. Trump had already criticized gasoline retailers before the decision, but his latest posts put pump prices at the center of his inflation fight.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.