Gas prices are on the rise throughout the country.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $3.16 on Thursday, according to AAA. The latest gas hike meant there were over a week of increases at the pumps. Thursday’s cost is more expensive than last week, when the average price was $3.138. It is also higher than a month ago, when the gas price was $3.065 per gallon.
The gas price increases coincided with President Donald Trump tariffs on Mexico and Canada that were initially supposed to go into effect on Feb. 1. The tariffs were postponed for 30 days, but gas prices have increased since the announcement.
Interestingly, however, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas is less expensive than a year ago, when it cost $3.225 per gallon.
Gas prices were a point of contention during former President Joe Biden’s term, given that costs increased significantly compared to Trump’s first term. After an average cost for regular gas of $2.476 per gallon between Jan. 2017 and Jan. 2021, fuel prices soared when Biden was in office. Less than six months after his inauguration, the gas price increased to over $3 per gallon by June 2021, remaining over that price for the rest of his presidency.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas peaked at $4.929 in June 2022. It was the highest national average cost for a gallon of regular gas in the nation’s history. Costs began to fall gradually the next month, though they would continue fluctuating between 2022 and 2024. By April 2024, gas prices reached a high for the year before starting to decrease in May, eventually dropping to $3.01 per gallon by mid-December. Prices began to increase again after Christmas.
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Trump campaigned on lowering gas prices and in the first two weeks after he started his second term, gas prices had dropped. A week after Trump’s inauguration, gas prices fell to average totals less than Biden’s last day in office. However, this changed over the last thirteen days.
Gas prices continue to fluctuate in different states throughout the country. On Thursday, the cost of gasoline ranged from as low as $2.687 per gallon in Mississippi to as high as $4.798 in California. Some states have experienced drops at the pumps, while in others, the cost of gas has increased.