US petrol prices pass Biden-era levels as midterm voters go to polls

American drivers paid more for petrol during Donald Trump's second term than at any point under Joe Biden, with average fuel costs reaching a record high on the eve of Tuesday's midterm elections.

The timing lands on a president who ran partly on an energy affordability platform. Pump prices have become the leading affordability complaint in districts where House seats are genuinely competitive, and Republican candidates in several of those races have spent the final days distancing themselves from the administration's energy record rather than running on it.

The record comes as Gulf diplomats warn that a renewed exchange of strikes against Iran — which sources describe as under active consideration — would push energy costs higher still. Iranian retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure is the scenario regional allies fear most, and it is the scenario for which the US military buildup in the region is explicitly designed to deter. Whether deterrence holds is the operative question for oil markets between now and any resolution of the diplomatic track Trump is running in parallel.