Heading toward the end of the month, gas prices are averaging above $4 a gallon, which, according to AAA, means this “August is shaping up to be the highest on record," even more even than in 2022, the year gas prices spiked to their highest one-day amount ever.
In Michigan, the average price of gasoline on Monday, Aug. 24, was $4.15 a gallon, down a dime from a week ago, when prices had climbed to $4.25 a gallon and President Donald Trump, essentially, told Americans to just suck it up and pay.
Later today, the administration is expected to launch what Trump has termed an "Economic D-Day."
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, warned that gasoline "is at its highest level ever recorded this late in the calendar year," and "could
for the first time ever see a national average price of gasoline above $4 per gallon on Labor Day — eclipsing the previous record of $3.83 per gallon set in 2012."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is set to hold a press conference Monday afternoon, has threatened to impose "the toughest sanctions in history" on Iran. Trump also threatened to impose sanctions on Iran's trading partners.
Throughout Michigan, the most expensive average regular gasoline prices on Sunday were in Ann Arbor, $4.25 a gallon; metro Detroit, $4.21; and Jackson, $4.15, the cheapest, in Flint, $4.06; Grand Rapids, $4.08; and Saginaw, $4.08. The national average on Monday was $4.10 a gallon.
Tiny bits add up to billions
Trump has characterized the increased price of gasoline at the pump, now 85 cents more a gallon than a year ago, as "a tiny bit more" and as part of the price Americans are paying to ensure that Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon. Still, to fill up a 15-gallon tank in Michigan, you’re now paying — on average — $62.
"Gas prices are lower to start the week, providing some welcome relief for drivers," Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for AAA, said. "However, ongoing market volatility means prices could continue to fluctuate."
And petroleum industry watchers have pointed out that all of those so-called tiny bits are adding up. By one calculation in June, GasBuddy’s analyst calculated the cost since the United States launched airstrikes against Iran had exceeded $40 billion.
What’s more, economists have also pointed out, higher fuel prices also have meant you had less disposable income, and the price of shipping and producing retail goods and food also went up, along with inflation.
In May, diesel fuel hit a new record high in Michigan of $6.21 a gallon, although it is now $5.64 a gallon.
The record high prices this year — in May for diesel and the month of August so far for gasoline — are undercutting the partisan response Trump supporters have made to high gas-price complaints: They were higher when Joe Biden was president, which for a set period was true.
On June 11, 2022, gasoline hit a record high in Michigan of $5.22 a gallon.
Haven't dropped 'like a rock'
But the war with Iran is still ongoing, despite the president’s prediction in March it would last just "four to five weeks," and gas prices also have yet to drop "like a rock" as Trump has suggested that they would.
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that had carried a fifth of global supplies, are still restricted, although crude prices on Monday did fall about $1 a barrel. Brent crude was trading in the low $90s a barrel. West Texas Intermediate was in the mid-$80s.
Last week, Trump said the naval blockade of Iran has been "100% successful."
He also threatened Iran with an "Economic D-Day," a World War II allusion, which some speculated the administration is pivoting now away from military strikes as U.S. munitions dwindle. In response, Iran vowed to fight back by preventing "even a single drop of oil" from leaving the area.
Both nations seemed to warn other countries not to take sides.
"We’re going to see what happens," Trump also said, adding what he has been repeating for months. "It’ll either be extremely good, and oil prices are going to drop like a rock, or we’ll continue to do exactly what we’re doing."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gas prices at the highest level ever recorded so late in the year
