Trump says he wants to suspend federal gas tax amid rising prices

A federal gas-tax holiday would trim 18.4 cents from each gallon of gasoline, about $2.76 on a 15-gallon fill-up, while shifting the bill onto the Highway Trust Fund that pays for roads and public transit. At a national average of about $4.52 a gallon, the promised relief is real but narrow, and it would last only as long as Congress agreed to keep the tax off the books.

President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with CBS News that he wants to suspend the federal gasoline tax “for a period of time” and then let it “phase back in” when prices fall. The idea immediately turned into a test of whether Washington is willing to trade a few cents of pump relief for a loss of federal revenue. Because the gas tax is collected to help fund the Highway Trust Fund, any suspension would require congressional approval and would force lawmakers to decide how to replace the money.

The pressure point is obvious at the pump. AAA data put the national average price of regular gasoline at about $4.52 a gallon on May 11 and May 12, 2026, after CBS reported prices had risen more than 50% since the start of the Iran war. Trump’s argument is that families need breathing room as fuel costs climb. The harder question is whether oil-market volatility would erase much of the benefit before drivers noticed it.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri quickly embraced the idea, saying he would introduce the Gas Tax Suspension Act. His bill would pause the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax for 90 days and give the president the option to extend it for another 90 days if economic conditions warrant. Hawley’s office said the proposal would also suspend the 24.4-cent federal diesel tax for 90 days, a move that would matter for freight costs as well as household budgets.

The politics of a gas-tax holiday are familiar. On June 22, 2022, President Joe Biden asked Congress to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months, from July through September, arguing that families needed relief while promising to protect the Highway Trust Fund. Congress never enacted the request, and critics said the savings would be modest while highway funding would take the hit.

The debate reaches back even further. During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain proposed suspending the federal gas tax, and Barack Obama called it a bad idea. That history still frames the current fight: the policy is easy to announce, but the savings are small, the funding loss is immediate, and the gasoline market can swallow the benefit almost as fast as Washington promises it.