Are President Biden’s efforts to bring down gas prices working?

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – High gas prices are putting a strain on drivers across the country.

President Joe Biden has announced several actions aimed at changing that. He claims they’re already working.

“Americans should already be seeing the savings. Although it’s only gone down about 18 cents, the savings are starting,” President Biden said.

AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross confirms prices are trending down.

“Gas prices reached their peak on March 11 when they hit $4.33 and, since that time, they’ve slowly been working their way down,” Gross said.

One of the things that helped was the president’s release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserves.

“Just the news of that announcement, not the actual physical release from the reserve, that helped drive prices down,” Gross said.

Geoff Cooper, the CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, says the decision to let gas stations sell a higher ethanol blend this summer is also making a difference.

“Those drivers that are choosing higher blends of ethanol like E-15 are absolutely seeing savings,” Cooper said.

Ultimately, experts say the president only has a limited impact on prices.

“There are very few weapons in the president’s arsenal they can use and he’s pretty much trying everything,” Gross said.

Costs are really set by the global market, according to those experts.

“There really are limits on how much policymakers can do to really drive down the price at the pump,” Cooper said.

With conflict in Ukraine and resurging COVID across the world, gas prices may continue to fluctuate with international instability.

“You have this upward pressure from the war, a downward pressure from COVID and all of us are stuck in between,” Gross said.