“We completely disagree with Jeff Bezos. We will continue to call on everyone along that distribution chain, as I just mentioned, from oil companies to refineries to distribute distributors to retailers to pass their local lower cost through to consumers,” Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden said that at a time of war and global peril companies running gasoline stations should bring down the prices to reflect the cost citizens are paying for the product.
Bezos responded later that day, saying that inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this and it is either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre responded by saying that oil prices have dropped by about $15 over the past month, while prices at the gasoline stations have barely come down, which is not basic market dynamic but is a market that is failing the US consumer.
As of Tuesday, the national average price for gasoline in the United States was $4.8 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. At the same time, car drivers in the West Coast states (California, Oregon, Washington) are seeing the highest prices at the pump that reach $7 per gallon.