US President Donald Trump has ordered a DOJ probe into major oil companies, accusing them of keeping gasoline prices -- retail prices at the pump in the US -- artificially high. He has effectively acknowledged a political problem he believed was already solved. He had repeatedly promised that fuel prices would "fall like a rock" once the fighting with Iran ended and tanker traffic resumed through the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, American drivers are still paying significantly more than they were before the conflict. The gap between Trump's expectations and market reality is exposing a broader misreading of how global oil markets function.
Trump has landed himself in what economists call the "rockets and feathers" phenomenon, and he is squirming for a safe exit.
