US gas prices up 40% as inflation reaches 3.7%, Americans feel it

In the United States, fuel has become the main symbol of the new inflation: in mid-October, diesel cost the equivalent of almost 40 crowns per litre, and gasoline has gone up 40 percent over the past few months. Overall inflation in the country has reached 3.7 percent year on year, even though the economy is growing and so are wages.

To Europeans, American prices still look low: they are lower than in Czechia, partly because of lower taxes. But for Americans, used to cheap fuel, the current level is unfamiliar and painful.

Six hundred dollars more a month

Oklahoma farmer Scott Belden shows off his machinery in the yard: all of it runs on diesel. He says he has never felt such anxiety about diesel prices in his whole life, because they rise every week. The trucks that deliver food and clothing depend on diesel.

According to calculations by a US television network, the average family spends $600 more a month (over 12,000 crowns) than three years ago under Joe Biden. The sum includes not only fuel, but also things that have become more expensive in shops because of it, as well as housing and loan and mortgage payments.

Donald Trump’s promise in 2024 was different: to halve energy costs within a year of taking office.

The deal with Putin changes almost nothing

To bring prices down, Trump recently agreed with Vladimir Putin on deliveries of Russian diesel to the US. According to Reuters, the US consumes about 3.6 million barrels a day. Even if Russia delivers the promised 300,000 tonnes in October, that is roughly 2.2 million barrels, or a little over half a day’s consumption.

Over a month that is around two percent of total American consumption, so the effect on prices will be minimal. Still, Trump was able to show voters that he is taking action: “America always comes first,” he wrote on social media.

Food gets pricier, wages lag behind

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a kilogram of coffee has become a third more expensive since January 2025, rising from $15.50 to $20.60, and ground beef is up 22 percent. Eggs, which hit record prices because of bird flu, have on the contrary become more than twice as cheap.

The Big Mac index, compiled by the British weekly, is also telling. In the last 18 months of Biden’s term the burger rose 3.8 percent in price; in Trump’s first 18 months it rose 7.4 percent, almost twice as fast. It now costs $6.22 on average.

Inflation is again outpacing wage growth: for rank-and-file workers, real hourly earnings in June 2026 fell 0.1 percent from June 2025. Overall, real wages are still rising, but above all for the wealthy. Cheap gas, admittedly, gives energy-intensive industries an edge over Europe, and the US has become a major exporter of liquefied gas. It is just that most Americans do not feel this in their wallets.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by denik.cz