Diesel prices hit a record high this week on the back of supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf, threatening higher costs for consumers and deepening unease about the U.S. economy. According to the fuel price tracking website GasBuddy, the price of diesel reached $5.85 per gallon on Friday. This has eclipsed the previous all-time high of $5.82, reached in mid-2022 during the energy crisis which followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
AAA put the national average at a record $5.88 on Saturday morning, up from $3.71 a year ago. Given this reliance, and the complex supply chains through which products travel before reaching store shelves, rising diesel prices filter through much of the consumer goods economy as companies and distributors attempt to spread out these costs. Heavy items that already carry substantial freight costs have also been identified as an area exposed to higher diesel prices.
"Diesel powers our farms, trucks, construction equipment and the delivery of nearly everything Americans buy. When diesel hits a record high, the damage does not stop at the pump. It moves through the entire economy and reaches every household," Democratic congressional candidate Shawn Harris posted to X this week.
Like gasoline prices—which have remained elevated going into the travel-heavy Labor Day weekend—diesel’s rise has been largely attributed to the launch of the Iran war on February 28 and the subsequent closure of the Hormuz Strait. The effective blockade placed on the vital waterway has pushed up the cost of both fuels, and despite some progress in between the U.S. and Iran, a recent re-escalation has helped drive Brent crude—the international benchmark—back over $90 a barrel as of Saturday morning. De Haan said that some upward pressure on diesel had come from Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and Houthi rebel strikes in the Arabian Peninsula.
Record-high diesel has also presented another challenge for President Donald Trump, already battling waning confidence in his stewardship of the U.S. economy as his party faces unsure prospects in this year’s elections. Only 32 percent of those interviewed for an AP-NORC poll in late July said they approved of the way Trump was handling the economy, which 69 percent said was in "poor" condition. The same poll found that between 40 and 45 percent said the cost of groceries, housing, health care and gas were proving to be a "major" source of stress in their lives.
And a late August Ipsos survey put Trump’s economic approval at 28 percent, falling to 22 percent and 21 percent for the cost of living and inflation, respectively. Contact Newsweek editor on this story: Edward Pearcey.
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