Tariffs: what's happening with gas prices?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Gas prices are poised to drop below $3 per gallon as market dynamics shift, an expert says.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, explained that several factors are influencing the current situation, including seasonal changes, refinery maintenance, and rising demand.

"There's a lot of levers all moving at the same time," said De Haan. "The seasonal levers that always move this time of year, including the transition to summer gasoline, refinery maintenance, and rising demand."

Recent tariffs havesent shockwaves through the global economy as uncertainty sets in.

"Tariffs have been implemented, sending the stock market and crude oil prices crashing in the last week," he said. "That is going to pave the way for that increase that happened at the pump last week to start letting go very quickly."

De Haan predicted that prices would fall below $3 a gallon as the week progresses.

Despite expectations of a drop in demand, OPEC recently announced a boost in output. De Haan suggested this could be a strategic move by OPEC to influence oil prices.

"It could be as simple as a change in strategic direction oil. OPEC had tried to get oil prices to rally. They are now struggling with that. So now they may go the other way to try to decimate markets only then to rebuild oil prices down the road, trying a different avenue of doing so," he said.

De Haan also addressed the apparent contradiction between tariffs and falling oil and gas prices.

"Kind of think about it like this, as goes the economy, as go gas prices. If the economy is strong and improving, gas prices generally will trend higher. If the economy is trending in a wrong direction, a slow down, a recession, it's going to mean lower prices, just like we saw during COVID, right, when Americans abruptly changed their behaviors, when the economy basically crumbled, gas prices crumbled too," he said.

Currently, the average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $3.26, with Ohio's average at $3.13.