‘Totally Wrong!’ Trump Calls Out His Own Energy Secretary for Saying Gas Prices Might Not Drop Until Next Year

President Donald Trump looks at Energy Secretary Chris Wright as he speaks during an event about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump called out his own energy secretary for saying that gas prices may not drop back below $3 per gallon until 2027.
In a brief phone interview with The Hill’s Julia Manchester (via X), the president called out Energy Secretary Chris Wright — who, Sunday on CNN, said that sub-$3 gas “might not happen ’til next year.”
“No, I think he’s wrong on that,” Trump told Manchester. “Totally wrong,”
Asked by Manchester when he believes gas prices will go down, Trump said, “As soon as this ends.”
Wright made the comments Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“When do you think it’s realistic for Americans to expect that gas will go back to under $3 a gallon?” Tapper asked.
“I don’t know,” Wright answered. “That could happen later this year. That might not happen ’til next year. But prices have likely peaked and they’ll start going down. Certainly with a resolution of this conflict, you’ll see prices go down. Prices across the board on energy prices will go down.”
Yet Tapper noted that it was a very different answer than the one Wright gave him in a previous interview on March 8.
“I asked you when gas prices would go under $3 a gallon for regular unleaded,” Tapper told Wright. “You said, quote, ‘In the worst case, this is a weeks thing, this is not a months thing.’ That was six weeks ago.”
But Trump, too, has seemingly had shifting opinions on the subject. Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo, in an April 12 interview, asked Trump if he believed oil prices would drop before the midterm elections.
“I hope so,” Trump said. “I mean, I think so. It could be. It could be. Or the same. Or maybe a little bit higher. But it should be around the same. I think this won’t be that much longer.”
But in a separate interview with Bartiromo two days later, Trump struck a much more optimistic note.
“Gasoline is coming down very soon and very big.” Trump replied.
“So you think gas prices will be lower before the midterm elections?” Bartiromo asked.
“I think they’ll be much lower — before midterms?” Trump said. “Much lower.”
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