Gas Prices Slip Amid Tariff Uncertainty and OPEC Production Increase

Gas prices are dropping ahead of the summer travel season, and experts predict they'll remain low through this year. The national average price for a gallon of gas on Monday was $3.13, down eight cents from last week and nearly 50 cents from a year ago.

Typically, this time of year sees prices rise ahead of the summer travel season, but Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, says tariffs have disrupted that trend. "Tariffs can constrain in a significant way the global economy as well as the U.S. economy, and that can send gasoline demand globally much lower," De Hann said.

The drop in demand has been reflected in the falling price of crude oil. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was around $61 on Monday, down about 10% from a month earlier.

OPEC recently increased its production forecast for May, which also contributed to the decrease in prices. However, despite the increase, OPEC slashed its forecast for oil demand this year by 150,000 barrels per day due to uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

De Haan believes that the combination of increased oil production and tariff uncertainty will keep prices at the pump low. "I think it's pretty safe to say that unless there's massive shift that consumers are going to be saving quite a bit at the pump this summer compared to last year," De Haan said.

However, he warned that lower gas prices may come at the expense of other goods and services. "Be careful what you root for," he said. "If you want to root for low gas prices, you may need to take some — or accept some — economic pain to get those lower prices."