The War That Is Not A War Sends Diesel To A Record $5.85
Six months of fighting have raised the freight economy's principal fuel by 56 percent, a material consequence of an increasingly immaterial noun.
CHICAGO—The conflict Vice President JD Vance declined to call a war has produced a result the fuel market was willing to name: diesel reached a nominal U.S. record of $5.85 a gallon Friday.
The price has risen nearly 56 percent from roughly $3.76 before the United States and Israel began fighting Iran in February. Regular gasoline now averages $4.15, compared with $3.20 a year ago and $2.98 before the conflict. Vance rejected the word war Thursday while declining to predict whether the six-month engagement would end before the November elections. The campaign’s duration remains uncertain. Its decimals update daily.
Diesel powers farm equipment, fishing boats, trains and the trucks that carry food and consumer goods. Freight companies, package carriers and online sellers have already imposed fuel-related charges, while analysts expect more costs to reach store shelves as contracts reset. The Independent Grocers Alliance estimates fuel represents 15 to 30 percent of food costs, giving every grocery aisle a modest foreign-policy desk.
Inflation-adjusted diesel prices were higher before the 2008 financial crisis and during 2022, a clarification available to households that pay their current bills in constant dollars. Brent crude traded above $95 Friday, up from about $70 before the fighting, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained constrained.
The administration has therefore separated the conflict from the burdensome vocabulary of war without separating it from freight, farming or food. The noun may be optional. The surcharge has been deployed.
Sources: Associated Press: U.S. diesel prices hit a record highAssociated Press: Vance says the Iran fight is not a war
