Trump’s fuel cost measures unlikely to ease voter concerns before midterms

With the US midterms less than two weeks away, high fuel prices remain a major concern for voters and a political risk for Republicans. Donald Trump has promoted measures to reduce costs, but analysts say they are unlikely to bring relief before election day, and polling suggests lower prices might still not persuade many voters to back Republicans.

The average US petrol price is $4.29 a gallon, more than $1.25 higher than a year earlier, while diesel is $6.30, up nearly 75%. Trump’s announced steps include a one-time $8bn diesel subsidy for farmers, expanded use of tax-exempt red-dye diesel and permission for 2.24m barrels of Russian diesel imports, an amount equivalent to about 14 hours of US demand. Analysts say global supply is constrained by the war on Iran, damage to refineries and attacks on Russian facilities; US refineries are already running at capacity.