President Donald Trump is weighing whether to suspend the federal gas tax — 18.4 cents per gallon — as his administration hunts for ways to ease the pain at the pump ahead of November's midterm elections. Asked about the idea on Tuesday, Trump offered a four-word answer that put the option squarely on the table: "Well, we're thinking about that."
The president stopped short of offering details — no timeline, no legislative plan, no indication of how seriously the idea is being considered or what steps might follow in Congress. But the mere fact that he's entertaining it says something about where energy costs sit on the White House agenda right now.
The backdrop is brutal. Pump prices are soaring amid the Iran war, and drivers across the country are feeling it every time they fill up. Trump first floated the gas-tax suspension back in May 2026 — and now, with the midterms weeks away, the idea is back in play.
The mechanics are simple enough. The federal gas tax — 18.4 cents per gallon — is baked into the price at every pump in America. Suspending it would shave nearly a fifth of a dollar off every gallon, instantly. For a driver filling a 15-gallon tank, that's close to $2.75 in immediate savings. Not a windfall — but real money for working families who are already stretched thin.
Trump himself acknowledged the savings would be modest relative to the price run-up. That's the honest math: when gas prices are climbing on the back of a war-driven oil shock, 18.4 cents is relief, not a fix.
And there's a catch. Suspending the tax isn't something the president can do alone — it requires an act of Congress. That means a bill, votes, and the full machinery of the legislative process. With the midterms looming, the politics of the ask are as uncertain as the policy.
Critics have long raised a second concern: the gas tax funds the Highway Trust Fund, the pool of money that pays for federal road and bridge work. Suspending it — even temporarily — opens a hole in that fund unless Congress backfills it with other revenue. Previous suspension proposals, from both parties, have run into that exact wall.
The other side of the argument is the one the administration is making: when families are getting squeezed at the pump, every cent of relief counts. The White House's posture is that the government shouldn't stand on ceremony about 18.4 cents when drivers are drowning in energy costs. It's the same instinct that has driven Trump's broader energy push — more production, lower costs, and pressure on anyone standing in the way.
Whether the idea moves from "thinking about that" to an actual proposal is the question. For now, the president has put the gas tax on the table — and with prices this high and the midterms this close, it's a card he may well play.