As Memorial Day weekend approaches, gas prices in Michigan were on the rise, inching upward Sunday, with regular unleaded selling for $3.18 a gallon, up 12 cents from just a week ago, according to AAA.
The price at the pump is of interest to Americans as an estimated 39.4 million of them, including 1.2 million in Michigan, are planning to travel by car for the holiday at least 50 miles or more.
And in this economy, many are now trying to pinch pennies.
“Many drivers across Michigan are seeing higher gas prices,” Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for AAA, said. “Despite this increase, drivers will still find lower pump prices compared to last year’s holiday.”
Still, the Trump administration has touted gas prices for weeks, framing them as a bright spot in what some fear may be a dimming economy.
Sunday, on CNN’s “State of the Union” and NBC’s “Meet the Press,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned gas prices, claiming that they are down under Trump.
Both Sunday news show hosts asked Bessent about Walmart’s news that it would start raising prices to pass along the costs related to Trump’s trade policy. The president had said on social media that the big retailer should simply “eat the tariffs.”
Bessent noted he talked to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon the day before, but acknowledged on CNN that some tariffs “may get passed on to consumers.” He also said McMillon told him that his customers cared about gas prices.
In both interviews, Bessent claimed Trump brought gas prices down.
While the price is 38 cents less than last Memorial Day, it also is three cents more a gallon than when the president started his second term.
The national average price of gasoline on Jan. 20, when Trump was inaugurated, was $3.12 a gallon, according to AAA, which tracks gas prices at stations nationwide. On Sunday in Michigan, it was $3.17 a gallon.
Throughout Michigan, the most expensive gas price averages on Sunday were in Lansing, $3.28 a gallon; Grand Rapids, $3.26 and Benton Harbor, $3.23; the least, in Traverse City, $2.95; Marquette, $3.07 and metro Detroit, $3.11.
Leading up to last November’s presidential election, Trump had made gas prices a campaign issue. If he were re-elected, he said, gas prices would plummet, mentioning a target price of $1.87 a gallon multiple times.
And while prices are down from an all-time high of $5.22 a gallon in Michigan on June 11, 2022, when Joe Biden was president; they also are now nowhere near Trump’s repeated, misleading claims of $1.98 a gallon.
That figure was closer to what could be considered a wholesale price, a portion of the retail price — not what Americans were paying at the pump.
Still, where prices will end up on Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer vacation season, likely will be influenced by several factors, including the price of oil, which is about $62 a barrel, and demand for gasoline.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan gas prices up 12 cents a gallon from last week as Memorial Day travel nears
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
