Trump Puts Big Oil on Blast, Orders DOJ to Investigate 'Gouging' at the Pump
With wholesale oil prices crashing, Trump tells Chevron, Exxon, Shell, and BP to drop the prices or face the feds.
President Donald Trump is not playing games with the corporate suits. On Wednesday, Trump took to the Oval Office and his social media channels to announce he has ordered the Department of Justice to immediately investigate major energy companies for price-gouging. The targets? Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP. According to Trump, these multinational giants are keeping gas prices artificially high while their own wholesale costs have absolutely plummeted.
Trump didn't hold back on the math, stating that gas prices should be sitting around $2.25 a gallon right now. Instead, regular unleaded is still averaging a painful $3.93 nationwide. "Oil prices have come down so much and we are not seeing anything at the pump by comparison the way they should be," Trump told reporters. It’s a classic case of corporate lag, and Trump is officially calling their bluff.
To understand how we got here, we have to look back at the absolute chaos in the Middle East. After joint US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28, Iran threw a massive tantrum and shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Naturally, this blocked off critical shipping lanes, causing global oil benchmarks to go completely vertical. Brent crude hit a peak of nearly $120 a barrel in May, and gas prices spiked past $4 a gallon.
But fast forward to today: peace talks are actually happening, the war is cooling down, and wholesale prices are in freefall. Brent crude dropped below $74 a barrel on Wednesday, and US WTI crude dipped to $70. Yet, somehow, the local gas station didn't get the memo, and drivers are still paying wartime prices. Trump’s message to Big Oil is simple: the crisis is over, so turn down the price tags.
Predictably, the energy lobby is coping and seething. The American Petroleum Institute (API) put out their standard corporate PR defense, with spokesperson Bethany Williams claiming that pump prices "don't move in lockstep with crude oil" due to refining, inventory, and supply chain issues. Translation: "Please don't look at our profit margins while we take our sweet time lowering prices."
But the DOJ is already entering the chat. A spokesperson for the department declared that fuel prices are a major national security issue and directly impact the wallet of every American, adding that they are fully committed to ensuring affordability. Meanwhile, the White House reminded everyone that Trump has a legendary track record of keeping gas dirt cheap, promising that these high prices are just temporary hiccups.
Over in the UK, regulators have already tried to run cover for these same energy companies, claiming back in May that they found no "widespread evidence" of price hikes and that margins remained stable. But Trump clearly isn't interested in weak-kneed European regulatory excuses. By unleashing the DOJ, he’s showing the corporate boardroom elites that the days of unchecked profiteering at the expense of everyday Americans are officially over.
