Trump: It's Refineries, Not Hormuz, Driving Gas Prices Up
President Trump says the latest pressure at the pump comes from Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and refinery shutdowns in Democrat-run states — not the Strait of Hormuz. The administration points to steadier oil flows through Hormuz and Europe tapping diesel reserves as proof the problem is downstream, not upstream.
President Trump is shifting the blame for gasoline prices away from the usual suspects — and naming a new one.
According to the president, the latest pressure on gas prices is no longer primarily about the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for Middle Eastern oil that has dominated energy headlines for years. Instead, Trump says, the real driver is refinery disruption — and he pointed to two specific sources: Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and refinery closures in Democratic-led states.
"What’s driving up Gasoline is no longer the Strait of Hormuz... but the word, ‘Refineries,’" Trump said.
The administration has backed up that framing with its read of the markets. Officials have pointed to increased oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz and Europe's release of diesel reserves as factors keeping crude supply relatively steady — evidence, in their view, that the squeeze is happening downstream at the refinery level rather than in the supply of raw oil. When refineries go offline, whether from damage or closure, the fuel that actually reaches the pump gets more expensive regardless of what crude oil is doing.
Trump has also taken the argument directly to Kyiv. The president previously urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop attacks on Russian refineries, part of his administration's push to bring more stability to global energy prices. Ukraine has carried out a sustained campaign of strikes on Russian oil infrastructure over the course of the war — a tactic Kyiv says weakens Moscow's war machine, but one Washington says is jolting global fuel markets.
The refinery-closure half of the argument hits closer to home. The United States has seen refining capacity tighten in recent years as older plants have been shut down or converted, and the administration has made no secret of where it thinks the blame lies for the ones in Democratic-led states — where, in its telling, hostile energy policies have driven refining investment away. Fewer refineries means less gasoline and diesel produced domestically, and American drivers feel it at the pump.
Critics, meanwhile, argue the picture is more complicated. They say U.S. gasoline prices track global crude markets more than anything else, and some have faulted Trump for pressing Ukraine to stop hitting Russian energy targets — arguing it amounts to shielding Moscow's revenue while Kyiv fights for its life. Others say no single factor explains pump prices, and blaming refineries papers over broader market forces.
But the administration's message is consistent: the oil is flowing, the crude is there, and the bottleneck is the plants that turn it into fuel. Fix the refineries — stop the strikes, stop the closures — and the pressure at the pump eases.