WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Gasoline prices since Jan. 20, 2025, have averaged $3.458 per gallon, above Biden’s $3.455 average.
  • The weekly government reading reached $4.269 per gallon for Oct. 26.
  • Trump called high gasoline prices “temporarily high” and argued that increased oil exports were generating substantial profits.
  • Current prices remain well above the $2.476 average during Trump’s first term and Obama’s $2.969 average.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.

New federal energy data has delivered an unwelcome milestone for President Trump. Average gasoline prices during his second term have now moved above the average recorded across President Biden’s four years in office.

Energy Information Administration data released Tuesday showed that gasoline prices since Jan. 20, 2025, have averaged $3.458 per gallon. This marks the first time the overall second term average under Trump has surpassed the comparable Biden era figure.

The latest weekly government reading placed regular gasoline at $4.269 per gallon for Oct. 26. That pushed the average calculated from Jan. 27, 2025, through the latest week above the $3.455 per gallon average recorded from Jan. 25, 2021, through Jan. 20, 2025.

The comparison is narrower when the first 91 weekly readings of both presidencies are measured against each other. “US Regular Gasoline Prices” averaged $3.517 per gallon from Jan. 25, 2021, through Oct. 24, 2022, leaving Trump’s corresponding record slightly more favorable.

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Biden’s presidency included a dramatic surge in fuel costs as the United States confronted oil shocks following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Gasoline reached its highest price on record at $5.006 per gallon during the week of June 13, 2022.

The latest numbers arrived exactly one week before the midterm elections. They also present a direct political challenge for Trump and his party because polling shows voters blame the president for gas price increases.

Those increases spiked immediately after the invasion of Iran earlier this year. The timing has placed new pressure on Trump’s repeated assurances that his energy agenda would bring costs down.

The data also conflicts with a central message Trump has promoted since the 2024 campaign. He consistently promised to reduce energy prices through new drilling, but the second term average has now edged beyond Biden’s full presidential average.

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At a Georgia rally over the weekend, Trump acknowledged that prices were elevated while describing them as “temporarily high.” He argued that the current burden still compared favorably with earlier administrations.

“You're still paying lower than Biden or Obama,” Trump said. The Energy Information Administration figures, however, show second term gasoline prices are now essentially equal to the average under Biden.

The same data also places current prices substantially above the average from Trump’s first term. Gasoline averaged $2.476 per gallon during those four years, according to a Yahoo Finance analysis of the government figures.

Prices were also lower across President Obama’s eight years in office. The average during that period was $2.969 per gallon, well below the $3.458 per gallon average registered in Trump’s second term since Jan. 20, 2025.

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Trump used the Georgia appearance to emphasize another consequence of higher energy prices. He celebrated larger profits for oil companies and argued that the United States was benefiting from oil exports sold at elevated prices.

“Our country is making hundreds of billions of dollars because of what's happened in the Middle East,” the president said. His remarks linked increased exports of United States oil at higher prices with gains for the country.

Trump also said his advisers had urged him not to highlight that argument and acknowledged that unfavorable headlines might result. “but I said, 'I don't give a damn, I'm going to say it: We are making a freaking fortune.'”

The political problem remains rooted in the numbers released by the government. Trump’s second term gasoline average has narrowly crossed Biden’s four year average, while his own first term remains significantly cheaper by comparison.

That record leaves Trump defending higher prices shortly before voters head to the polls. His argument centers on temporarily elevated costs and stronger oil profits, even as the Energy Information Administration data challenges his claim that drivers are still paying less than under Biden or Obama.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.