The White House is scrambling to bring gas prices down for Americans after attacking Iran

Prices jumped 27 cents in one week

Gas prices just spiked, and they spiked fast. The national average for regular gasoline climbed about 27 cents in a single week to roughly $3.25 per gallon as of March 5, according to AAA.

That’s the highest price since April 2025. Just two months ago, prices sat around $2.81 per gallon.

GasBuddy had predicted 2026 would bring the cheapest gas Americans have seen since 2020. That forecast looks shaky now.

White House scrambles to find answers

Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Trump’s advisers to bring ideas for lowering gas prices to the Oval Office, according to two energy industry executives cited by Politico.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are feeling the heat. Burgum chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, which coordinates energy policy across every federal agency.

Behind the scenes, officials are racing to line up announcements and talking points to push back against the rising-price headlines.

Middle East conflict drove the spike

The price jump has a clear trigger. Conflict in the Middle East disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that carries about 20% of the world’s oil.

Tanker traffic ground to a halt as ship owners pulled back because of the dangerous security situation. Crude oil shot past $80 a barrel on March 6, its biggest single-day jump since May 2020.

That disruption piled a risk premium on top of the normal spring price climb.

Some states pay far more than others

Not every driver feels the pain equally. California leads the country at about $4.67 per gallon, with Hawaii close behind at $4.40 and Washington state at $4.38.

On the other end, Oklahoma sits at roughly $2.62, and Mississippi comes in at $2.64.

GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan expects prices could rise another 10 to 15 cents per gallon over the next week before the pace starts to slow down.

A gas tax holiday could save drivers a little

One White House official floated the idea of temporarily suspending the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal gas tax.

Congress hasn’t changed that tax since 1993, and it funds the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for highway and transit projects. Any suspension would need congressional approval.

If stations passed the full savings along, a driver filling a 15-gallon tank would save about $2.76 per fill-up. That’s not nothing, but it’s not game-changing either.

Past tax holidays delivered mixed results

When states like Maryland, Georgia, and Connecticut paused their gas taxes in 2022, drivers didn’t pocket the full savings.

A Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis found the price cuts only partly reached consumers and didn’t last for the full holiday.

Economists have warned that removing the tax could boost demand when supply is already tight, which could push prices higher before the tax break kicks in.

The Highway Trust Fund could also lose billions needed for road and bridge repairs.

Navy escorts are another option on the table

Officials have discussed sending the U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Departments of Energy and the military are working on a timeline to make the strait safe for commercial shipping. She didn’t commit to a specific date.

Saudi Arabia has raised concerns about U.S. troops operating in the region, which could make this option harder to pull off than it sounds.

Trump rules out tapping the oil reserve

Trump said he’s not looking to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring prices down.

The SPR holds about 415 million barrels right now, slightly more than the roughly 400 million it held at the end of the Biden administration.

Trump had sharply criticized Biden’s 2022 decision to release 180 million barrels from the reserve. The administration has been slowly refilling it, recently awarding contracts to buy about one million barrels.

The reserve can hold about 714 million barrels total, so it’s a little more than half full.

OPEC+ adds oil but not enough to help much

On March 1, OPEC+ agreed to boost oil production by about 206,000 barrels per day starting in April. Saudi Arabia and Russia each plan to add around 62,000 barrels per day.

Analysts say that amount is a small fraction of global demand and likely won’t make up for the oil lost through the Strait of Hormuz disruption.

The group said it can increase, pause, or reverse the move depending on how the market shapes up.

White House points to record U.S. oil production

Leavitt said the administration’s policies have led to the highest U.S. oil production ever.

She added that the Departments of Energy and Treasury will keep monitoring oil markets and do everything they can to keep prices stable. Trump said publicly that more action to ease pressure on oil is coming soon.

He also said prices will drop lower than before once the conflict calms down, though he didn’t offer specifics on when or how.

Small increases add up fast for families

Americans burn through about 370 million gallons of gas every day, so even a small price bump hits household budgets quickly.

Before the conflict, GasBuddy projected the average household would spend about $2,083 on gas in 2026. Drivers in the South and Midwest generally pay less, while Western states get hit harder.

People driving trucks and SUVs feel the squeeze more than those in smaller or hybrid cars.

No quick fix exists for prices at the pump

Gas prices rank among the most visible signs of economic health for American consumers. When fuel costs rise, the price of goods and services can climb too, since almost everything moves by truck.

The spike comes after months of falling prices the administration had called an economic win. None of the policy options on the table so far would deliver fast, large-scale relief.

The White House faces a tough balancing act between its affordable energy goals and a global oil market thrown into chaos.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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