US gas price hits a record $5 a gallon: auto group

• The average price of premium gasoline in the United States has surpassed $5.
• This comes on top of months of rising inflation.
• The increase in gas prices follows a steady rise in oil prices.

The average price of premium gasoline at the pump in the United States has surpassed $5 per gallon for the first time, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA) on Saturday.

This new high, which comes on top of months of rising inflation, is the latest setback for President Joe Biden, just five months before crucial midterm elections.

The average price of gasoline in the United States was $3.07 a year ago; it has since risen by 62 percent.

While Europeans have long been accustomed to paying much more at the pump, US gas taxes are lower — leaving car-loving Americans in shock over surging prices.

The increase in gas prices follows a steady rise in oil prices — which had plummeted in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as demand sagged, but have risen again as world economic activity resumes.

Oil prices soared further after Moscow invaded Ukraine in late February, and as international sanctions against Russia — a major petroleum producer — began to bite.

A barrel of crude currently sells for more than $120 in both London and New York.

Overall US energy prices in May were nearly 35 percent higher compared to the same month in 2021, according to government data.

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This has contributed to the overall rise in US consumer prices, which were up 8.6 percent in May from a year earlier — a 40-year record.

As the summer vacation season nears, Americans — with their longtime love affair for big gas-guzzling vehicles — can expect to see energy prices rise still further.

That will pile even more pressure on consumers already struggling with higher prices for food (up 10.1 percent in May), housing, automobiles and health care.

All this complicates Biden’s position. For months he has sought to reassure Americans that his administration is doing everything in its power to bring down prices without derailing the economic recovery.

However, in November, Americans vote to elect all members of the House of Representatives and one-third of senators, and polls show that voters’ top concerns are the economy, inflation, and high gas prices.

On Friday, the president lashed out once more at the American oil industry, warning it not to “use the challenge created by the war in Ukraine as an excuse to make things worse for families through excessive profit taking or price hikes.”

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