Slight upticks in gasoline and electricity prices in recent weeks have resulted in a flood of corporate media proclamations that President Donald Trump is already breaking his promise to voters to deliver “the number one lowest cost energy on Earth.” But beneath the excited headlines, it is clear that the Trump energy revolution is well underway, despite some temporary and predictable price fluctuations.
The cost of gas has indeed climbed by a few pennies per gallon over the past several days, leading to declarations from CNN, The New York Times, and others that Trump’s tariffs are to blame. “Gas Prices Are Soaring Again Under Trump” reads one headline from Newsweek.
But as that same article acknowledges some nine paragraphs in, rising costs at the pump are largely the result of annual maintenance work that takes place each spring at pumps and refineries. This year, prices are increasing especially fast on the West Coast due to “maintenance and unexpected refinery outages.”
Moreover, the price of a gallon of gas is still well below the record of $4.99 set the week of June 16, 2022, at the height of the Biden inflation crisis.
Inflation stats also show that electricity prices rose 1.1 percent month-over-month in January – another data point the media has used to bash Trump’s economic agenda. Again, however, this narrative is woefully inaccurate, as inflation data for the first few months of Trump’s second term will be reflective of former President Joe Biden’s policies until Trump’s changes have time to take effect.
On that front, Americans have ample reason for optimism, as Trump has made reversing Biden’s energy policies and boosting production a top priority of his first month in office.
On day one of his second term, Trump signed an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” and mandating that every federal agency “exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them… to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources.”
Another day one executive order on “unleashing American energy” implemented a slew of other measures to boost domestic production and ultimately bring down prices, including overturning 12 energy-related Biden orders. One critical section of that order mandates an “immediate review of all agency actions that potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources.”
Other sections of the order halted payouts of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidies and called for eliminating the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate – two key issues Trump campaigned on last year. The IRA subsidies in particular could have cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion while wreaking havoc on oil and gas suppliers that produce the most cost-effective and reliable energy.
Just as importantly, Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and ordered federal agencies to “put the interests of the United States and the American people first in the development and negotiation of any international agreements with the potential to damage or stifle the American economy.” In doing so, Trump has freed the United States from obligations that would lead to further deindustrialization and the loss of high-paying jobs in order to fulfill unrealistic, ineffective commitments that lead to higher prices for consumers.
Dr. Hans Vollmueller, a Swiss energy policy specialist, described these policies as “a true regulatory revolution.”
“It feels like creating a new world for energy companies and investors who likely did not expect it,” he added.
Trump’s actions represent a marked shift from the Biden administration, which literally laughed at the idea that the White House could bring down energy prices at all – even as Biden waged a regulatory war on American energy producers, shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, canceled drilling permits, and intentionally surrendered the hard-won energy independence achieved under Trump.
This led to almost comical yet deeply alarming scenes, such as Biden’s National Security Adviser begging OPEC+ producers to increase oil production. In addition, along with record-high gas prices, electricity bills soared nearly 30 percent during Biden’s tenure.
In total, the Institute for Energy Research logged 250 ways in which “the Biden-Harris administration, and their allies, have made it harder to produce oil & gas.” Two lawyers who consult with energy companies told me that Trump has already removed “about 80 percent” of these obstacles that Biden imposed on the energy industry, leading to increased investment and job growth.
Amid these changes, the United States seems poised to once again become a net energy exporter – something Trump achieved in 2019 for the first time in nearly 70 years. New energy projects will take time to plan and build, and prices may remain stubbornly high until companies can get more products to market. But Trump’s rapid-fire approach in the early weeks of his second term suggests that costs will ultimately come down and that an energy revolution is well underway.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
As usual, MSM is claiming and blowing their horns that everything is going up, but changes DO NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT. It takes time for correction to happen, and we just have to be patient and help the best we can.
Not surprising .All the left leaning, so called ” major media ” outlets have no interest in a strong energy independent United States.
Good, the energy costs can’t come down soon enough and low enough for the poor especially with the absurdly cold winter we have been handling! 30% increase in Electric Power costs explains my ridiculously high heating bills. Biden should be tried for treason!
It’s seasonal supply and demand, …and the media manipulators haven’t got a clue how anything driven by simple economic fundamentals function!
Wholesale cost increases on retail energy prices always tick up early EVERY year due to colder weather and increased freight traffic for the upcoming spring selling season.
Come March and April the opposite happens and energy costs drop.
The media said nothing when Joe artificially boosted it though… big surprise, right? Yes I am waiting on baited breath for gas prices to fall. House prices and rent as well but thats more complicated then gas.
with so few viewers/readers, one wonders how the mainstream propaganda outlets spread their narrative and why someone hasn’t put down whoever is responsible for spreading old Soviet type propaganda to the ignorant left.
once again the crooked lying media has proved that they are the real enemy of the people. i believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press BUT not the freedom to not tell the truth. they do nothing but promote division by telling their lies and making up the news to promote their own wellbeing. the biased press needs to be stopped telling lies and reporting their own opinions of what is right and proper.
The average Joe American could shut down the mainstream media if we would just boycott anyone that advertises on it literally and honestly boycott them.. call up the advertisers in person and tell them you will not shop at their business as long as they advertise on ABC NBC CBS whatever and follow through with it. They will stop. They will not spend money to cost themselves business. The problem is people just say they will not do business with company XYZ, but they go ahead and do it and they do not tail company XYZ they are going to withhold their their business, so the company has no idea what’s going on. Look how bad Anheuser-Busch got hit with their Bud Light and Fiasco that was billions of dollars that’s because people stood up and said we will not buy your product, guess what it worked
Don’t forget who was at the forefront of the irradiation of Trumps Domestic Energy Policies!
His Name was President Joe Biden!
He immediately with a stroke of his pen Demolished all of Presidents Energy Policies in 2021.
I recalled watching him on the Evening News! Boasting about doing just that!
At least there’s help for the country with President Trump on the move. It’s a shame the President can’t help California the state I live in, the communist/Democrats are driving the oil companies out of this state which hopefully collapses this state to the actual sh** hole it is.
It took Biden and his minions 4 years to mess up everything in this country, it cannot be made right in 2 or 3 months. Trump is making many great decisions and he truly loves the country and its people. If the radical left would stop trying to block Trump at every turn, we would see the changes much sooner. Of course, these radicals only know hatred for Trump and anyone who agrees with him. It is sickening.