Gas prices, which have been steadily rising for weeks as the conflict in Ukraine has escalated, hit a record in the United States on Tuesday.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.173 on Tuesday, according to AAA, surpassing the previous high in July 2008, when the national average was $4.114. Tuesday’s average represented an increase of about 72 cents from a month ago, including about 55 cents in the past week. The prices are not adjusted for inflation.
President Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on importing Russian energy into the United States. Russia is a major producer of oil and natural gas, and Western countries had been avoiding Russia’s energy sector when imposing sanctions, conscious of the potential economic pain it could bring at home. But Mr. Biden had come under increasing pressure from Congress to cut off Russian oil.
U.S. consumers have been feeling the squeeze, even though the United States imports relatively little oil directly from Russia. In California, prices for some types of gas hovered around $6 in previous days; on Tuesday the state average was well over $5. Mr. Biden has tried to brace Americans for the sticker shock. In a February press briefing before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he said: “I will not pretend this will be painless.”
But Americans may still not be prepared for the number they see at the pump. Though some analysts expect the extreme prices to be short-lived — and though gas costs make up a relatively small part of consumer spending — record-high prices can have an outsized influence on how Americans perceive the U.S. economy. And inflation, which has been rising at its fastest pace in 40 years, had been a concern for many before the Russian invasion.
