As Oil Prices have dropped, Gas Prices remain high — and President Donald Trump wants to know why.
To that end, the president has directed the Justice Department (DOJ) to open an investigation into alleged gas price gouging.
He gave the directive Wednesday morning in a post on Truth Social.
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump weote. “Those prices are dropping like a rock!
“In other words, customers are being ‘gouged,’” he added. “I have instructed the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
The president’s approval rating has gone down like the Oil Prices in light of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This resulted in global fuel shortages and upped domestic Gas Prices to over $4 a gallon at the end of March.
On Wednesday morning, the average price of regular gas in the U.S. was just below $4 a gallon, down from $4.50 a month ago, according to AAA.
An Associated Press-NORC survey released last week reported 59% of U.S. adults believe that the U.S. military action in the region has “gone too far.”
The president’s approval rating on his administration’s economic policies dropped to 30% in an April AP-NORC poll.
The president and White House officials have said the economic strains are temporary and worth the long-term effort to ensure Iran doesn’t procure a nuclear weapon.
Trump also dismissed the Labor Department’s finding of increased consumer prices as a “fake inflation report” and said “the numbers were great.”