On New Year’s Day, President Trump tweeted:
I have written many times about the limited impact a sitting President can have on gasoline prices. Presidents can pursue policies that over a period of time can influence gasoline prices in one direction or another, but their ability to impact prices quickly is pretty limited.
However, this year President Trump did indeed impact gasoline prices.
Gasoline prices fell sharply because oil prices collapsed. President Trump influenced that by conning Saudi Arabia into increasing production and then letting Iran continue to export oil.
I would also point out that gasoline prices at this time of year are usually low, because seasonal demand is low (and it’s cheaper to produce winter gasoline).
For comparison, below is the national average retail gasoline price during the first week of January over the past 12 years.
