There are administrations that pick a lane on energy costs and there is the Trump administration, which today is simultaneously proposing to slash diesel truck emissions regulations to lower supply chain costs, investigating oil companies for not lowering gas prices fast enough, threatening retailers with “big problems” for not hitting $2.50 a gallon, launching a 25-station promotional gas network in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area that charges more per gallon than the same stations did under Biden, and declaring that the Iran war, which caused gas to hit $4.54 a gallon in May, is over, while the war has restarted and oil prices jumped 4 percent yesterday. The policy coherence is not the point. The activity is the point.
The EPA today proposed slashing Biden-era diesel emissions regulations for heavy-duty trucks and farm equipment, per Fox News, in a rule change that EPA air chief Aaron Szabo said would save the trucking industry approximately $12 billion and reduce supply chain costs that “make delivering everything more expensive.” “By making these trucks cheaper and more reliable, we are making sure that the supply chain stays as cheap as possible for the American people,” Szabo told Fox News Digital. The proposal keeps nearly 90 percent of the planned nitrogen oxide emissions reductions from the Biden rule while giving manufacturers more time and flexibility to meet them, which is the regulatory approach that conservatives describe as common sense and environmentalists describe as a rollback, and which will take effect after a public comment period that both sides will use energetically.
The diesel rule rollback arrives the same week the DOJ sent a letter to all 50 state attorneys general encouraging them to investigate oil companies under their own antitrust laws for potentially keeping gasoline prices artificially elevated, a letter that prominently features Trump’s June 24 Truth Social post accusing major oil companies of failing to pass along declining crude prices to consumers. Trump has called oil companies price gougers. He has also told them their product is essential. He has threatened them with big problems. He has also launched a promotional gas network through a retailer he described as “VERY smart.” Both the threat and the compliment are currently active policy.
The national average gas price is approximately $4.30 per gallon, per AAA, which is $1.18 higher than when Trump took office in January 2025 and $1.80 lower than the May peak of $4.54 when the Iran war closed the Strait of Hormuz. The administration describes the decline from the peak as a victory. Gas remains higher than it was before Trump took office, which the administration describes as a work in progress. The Iran war restarted yesterday. Oil prices are climbing.
The diesel rule rollback will reduce costs for truckers who haul the goods that fill the stores where Americans buy things at prices they consider too high, which is the correct supply chain logic for lowering consumer prices over the long term and which will not produce lower prices at the pump before the midterm elections in November.
When the administration is simultaneously rolling back emissions rules, investigating oil companies, threatening retailers, and restarting a war that caused the gas price spike, which policy is in charge of the gas price?
Sources
Fox News: Biden-era enviro rule accused of strangling truckers lands on Trump chopping block
Washington Examiner: DOJ investigating oil companies over manipulating gas prices
