Americans will feel pain of high gas prices for next few weeks, Trump energy secretary says

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted that Americans will continue to experience the pinch in their wallets at the gas pump for the “next few weeks,” but he was hopeful that prices could drop below $3 a gallon by the summer. “It is a short-term disruption in the flow of energy,” Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.“Americans are feeling it right now.

Americans will feel it for a few more weeks, but at the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies.”Gas prices are currently averaging $3.69 nationally, according to the latest data from the American Automobile Association.The AAA national average was below $3 a gallon before the war in Iran broke out.Wright recalled how gasoline prices neared $5 a gallon at one point during the Biden administration, but was hopeful that there wouldn’t be a repeat of that this time. “There’s a very good chance that’ll be true,” he said when asked about whether gas prices could fall below $3 a gallon by the summer.

“There’s no guarantees in war.The timeframe’s still not entirely clear.

But I think that’s certainly a goal of the administration and very possible.”Oil prices have been hovering around $100 a barrel in the futures markets since President Trump announced a massive attack on Kharg Island, a critical Iranian oil hub, where some 90% of its crude exports flow through.“This conflict will come to an end in the next few weeks, and we’ll see a rebound in supplies and a pushing down of prices after that,” Wright told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday.“We were very aware, very aware, that we would have [a] short-term disruption… [that] would cause a little bit of increased prices on Americans,” he added.“Prices today are still far below where they were in the Biden administration, where they were begging, bartering, and bribing Iran to behave better.”Some Iranian officials have warned that oil prices could broach $2...