California Governor Gavin Newsom has renewed his criticism of President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright regarding the impact of the Iran war on fuel prices. Newsom took to the social media platform X on Wednesday to respond to Wright’s comments, which blamed California for heightened fuel costs.
Wright had previously criticized Newsom, specifically citing the state's imports of oil sourced from Iraq as a national security concern. In response, Newsom’s press office posted a message on X accusing Wright of scapegoating California for the gas price spike linked to the Iran war. The post included an AI-generated image depicting Trump changing prices at a Chevron gas station.
The press office also shared a screen capture of a Wall Street Journal article published on Tuesday. The article reported that ordinary Americans have paid $100 billion in excess fuel costs since the war with Iran began in February 2026. Newsom’s office characterized this as an instance of what it called "Newsom Derangement Syndrome" on the part of the Trump administration.
Regarding market data, the national average price of gas on Wednesday was reported at $4.3672 per gallon, while diesel crossed the $6.3 mark to $6.3103 per gallon. In California, the average gas price was $6.0440 a gallon, with diesel averaging $8.2668 per gallon. These figures were sourced from data collected by the American Automobile Association (AAA).
On the financial markets, the United States Oil Fund (USO) slipped 1.15% to $154.37 during overnight trading on Wednesday. Meanwhile, ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO) rose 0.13% to $52.36 during the same period.
