Trump Falsely Claims Gasoline Was $1.85 in Iowa in State of the Union
In his 2026 State of the Union, Trump claimed 'When I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.' This claim was immediately fact-checked and found to be false. The gas station outside the Iowa venue where Trump spoke was charging $2.69 a gallon. The Iowa state average at the time was $2.57 a gallon. GasBuddy found just four stations in the entire state selling gas for less than $2.00 a gallon. While gasoline prices have dropped about 6% overall during Trump's second term, the specific price he cited was not representative of what Iowans were actually paying.
“When I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.” — State of the Union address to joint session of Congress, February 24, 2026 Quote verified against source
Analysis Feed
AI commentaryThis claim was debunked in real-time. A woman attending the speech publicly fact-checked Trump, noting the actual price at the station near his Iowa event was $2.69. CNN and Poynter documented that Trump used an extreme outlier price that was not representative of what Iowans were paying, with the state average at $2.57.