National average gas price falls to $3.82, still above year-ago levels
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission on Friday called on state attorneys general to join federal investigators in probing whether oil companies and other businesses are engaging in conduct that keeps gasoline prices artificially high, according to a letter obtained by UPI.
“Recent volatility in crude oil prices does not suspend either the antitrust laws or state consumer protection laws, and it does not authorize companies to manipulate retail prices or collude with their competitors,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote in the letter. They added that they “encourage State Attorneys General to use all tools available under your state laws to investigate and prosecute any misconduct causing unjustified price increases,” particularly conduct violating state antitrust and consumer protection statutes.
The federal push follows weeks of complaints from President Donald Trump, who took to Truth Social on June 23 to say that gasoline prices were not falling fast enough as crude oil costs declined. “The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump wrote. “Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being ‘gouged.’” He said he had instructed the DOJ to “immediately start looking into this” and warned that “gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing.”
AAA reported Friday that the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.82, down from $4.26 a month earlier. One year ago, before the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, after which Tehran largely shut down the Strait of Hormuz to traffic, the national average was $3.16 per gallon.
Gas prices began climbing in late February after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran, according to the UPI report. Tehran responded by largely shutting down the Strait of Hormuz to traffic, crippling oil transport through the waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s gas supplies passes. An agreement between the United States and Iran eventually reopened the strait, but gasoline prices have remained elevated.
The letter to state attorneys general represents the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to push energy companies to lower prices. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned oil and gas companies on June 30 to lower prices ahead of the July Fourth holiday, saying the administration was watching the industry.