As Americans continue to take significant financial hits at the gas pump amid record-high prices, President Donald Trump is waving away concerns over the cost of fuel and says he’s more than content with crude oil prices at $92 per barrel amid the ongoing U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo in an interview that had been taped late Tuesday, Trump did not appear concerned as the longtime financial journalist noted that crude prices are approximately 50 percent higher than they were before the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran on February 28.
He also said he was “very surprised” that crude prices were “only” at $92 per barrel and predicted that the war could “be over very soon” while suggesting that the hit to Americans’ pocketbooks has been “very worthwhile” because the war has degraded Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.
“If you told me that we were going to be at only 92 a barrel, $92 a barrel, I would have been very surprised. All right, and you know what? I’m very happy, and it’s going to come dropping down very big as soon as it’s over,” he said.
Trump was similarly dismissive of the war’s impact on inflation and the possibility that it could reduce economic growth this year, telling Bartiromo that any “hit” to the economy would be temporary.
“Because, you know, we go through it for whatever it is six weeks, there’s going to be a hit, but it’s going to recover, I think, fully,” Trump said.
He added that he thinks U.S. stock markets will “boom” after the war ends — and somewhat paradoxically claimed it is “already booming again.”
“Nobody thought we could be at 50,000 during my four terms on the Dow, or 7000 on the SNP, and we hit numbers that nobody thought possible,” he said.
Trump’s remarks come a week after the release of the March Consumer Price Index report, which showed a 0.9 percentage-point increase from February, meaning prices are 3.3 percent higher year-over-year. It was the largest annual increase since May 2024.
Since the start of the war, the price of oil regularly surpasses the $100-a-barrel mark and the average gas price in the U.S. has risen above $4 a gallon, up nearly $1 from one year ago.
Overall, energy prices have climbed 10.9 percent, while gasoline is an extraordinary 21.2 percent higher.
Source: independent.co.uk