Biden: ‘I Don’t Have a Near-Term Answer’ on Gas Prices, They’ll Start Decreasing ‘Into Next Year’

During a town hall on CNN on Thursday, President Joe Biden predicted that gas prices will start to come down “into next year, in 2022. I don’t see anything that’s going to happen in the meantime that’s going to significantly reduce gas prices.” And stated, “I don’t have a near-term answer” on the issue and the possibility of bringing prices down depends “a little bit on Saudi Arabia and a few other things that are in the offing.”

Biden said, “Gas prices relate to a foreign policy initiative that is about something that goes beyond the cost of gas. We’re about $3.30 a gallon most places now, when it was up from — when it was down in the single digits — I mean, a dollar-plus. And that’s because of the supply being withheld by OPEC, and so, there’s a lot of negotiation that is — there’s a lot of Middle Eastern folks who want to talk to me. I’m not sure I’m going to talk to them. But the point is, it’s about gas production. There’s things we can do in the meantime, though.”

Host Anderson Cooper then asked, “Do you have a timeline for gas prices of when you think they may start coming down?”

Biden responded, “My guess is, you’ll start to see gas prices come down as we get by — and going into the winter — I mean, excuse me, into next year, in 2022. I don’t see anything that’s going to happen in the meantime that’s going to significantly reduce gas prices.”

He later added, “I must tell you, I don’t have a near-term answer.” He continued that tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would only result in a marginal reduction in prices, and “there’s a possibility to be able to bring it down, depends on — a little bit on Saudi Arabia and a few other things that are in the offing.”

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