CLEVELAND — As gas prices fluctuate from week to week and year to year, we often see politicians either taking credit for low prices or promising they can bring down high ones.
That spills over to social media, where people claim that if former President Donald Trump gets re-elected, gas prices will go down.
THE CLAIM
So let's VERIFY: Does the president control gas prices in the United States?
SOURCES
We asked AAA and Gas Buddy about this, and also looked at data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
EXPLANATION
To set the stage here, we asked AAA for high and low gas prices in Northeast Ohio from the last three presidents' terms. They gave us these highs and lows, from Barack Obama's second term, Trump's entire presidency, and current President Joe Biden's time in office, to date:
- Obama’s last term from Jan. 2013 – Dec. 2016
- High: $3.95 (6/7/2013)
- Low: $1.43 (2/10/2016)
- Trump’s presidency from Jan. 2017 – Dec. 2020
- High: $2.87 (10/3/2018)
- Low: $1.40 (4/25/2020)
- Biden’s presidency to date from Jan. 2021 – present
- High: $5.05 (6/9/2022)
- Low: $2.13 (1/6/2021)]
It's true that the lowest low and the lowest high both came during Trump's presidency, but that doesn't necessarily mean he made that happen, or he could make that happen again.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy explained it like this: "If you look at the average price, Obama's second term was cheaper than Trump's first term, by quite a bit. And a lot of that has nothing to do with the president, more the circumstances at the time."
Specifically, Patrick noted that late in 2014, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) flooded the global market with crude oil. Patrick told us that caused gas prices to drop.
James Garrity, Director of Public Affairs for AAA East Central, told us that many factors go into the cost of what we spend at the pump.
"The largest factor is crude oil costs, which account for 50-60 percent of what we pay at the pump," he said. "Oil is a global commodity that is impacted by what is happening worldwide."
The US Energy Information Administration confirms that crude oil cost is the biggest factor, followed by federal and state taxes, distribution and marketing, and refining costs and profits.
THE ANSWER
So we can VERIFY that no, the president does not control gas prices in the United States. Presidential policies can have an impact, but there's a lot more at play when it comes to what we pay at the pump.
If you come across something that you're unsure about being true or false, you can send it to us to VERIFY by emailing us at verify@wkyc.com, or texting us at (216) 344-3300.