“‘Trump promised to slash energy costs, but gasoline, diesel and jet fuel all soared instead’”

What actually happened

Gas prices stood at a national average of $4.20 a gallon on Friday, nearly 40% above the same period last year, and diesel has surged about 70% over the past year, to $6.32 a gallon. Both are tracking toward the most expensive ever heading into an Election Day, according to GasBuddy, following Trump's decision to join Israel's attack on Iran, which disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Key facts

• Gas prices stood at a national average of $4.20 a gallon on Friday, nearly 40% above the same period last year.
• The price of diesel… has surged about 70% over the past year, to $6.32 a gallon.
• With a week to go to the election, U.S. gasoline prices are 42.3c/gal above 2022's election day average, which was the priciest Election Day at the pump ever. (Note: this is a record for election day timing, not an all-time nominal high, a nuance oilprice.com flags explicitly but CNBC does not stress.)
• Trump campaigned on a pledge to cut prices "below $2 a gallon" within 12 months of taking office, per his own September 2024 remarks quoted in the piece.
• The White House's counterargument is included: gas prices adjusted for inflation have been higher around previous elections, per the article.

What to watch for

Watch whether the Trump-Putin diesel deal (6 million barrels through November) moves prices at all, analysts quoted in the piece already say the volume is too small to matter. Also watch whether coverage starts citing the AAA/Forbes finding that nominal average gas prices under Trump and Biden are nearly identical, a fact that complicates the "soared" framing if read in isolation from the Iran-driven spike described here.