Gas in Michigan jumps 17 cents a gallon in a week, despite falling oil prices

• Michigan gas prices jumped up in the past week, landing at $3.21 a gallon.
• Trump claims — again — he brought gas prices "down to $1.98 in many states."
• Analysts have said low oil prices could be a sign of looming economic trouble.

Michigan gas prices jumped up in the past week, landing at $3.21 a gallon, an average increase of 17 cents.

The gas prices went up as oil prices went down and President Donald Trump repeated a claim in a "Meet the Press" interview that aired on Sunday that he had brought gas prices "down to $1.98 in many states."

Adrienne Woodland, a spokeswoman for the AAA auto club, which tracks prices, said Monday that "drivers across Michigan are seeing higher prices at the pump as we enter the month of May."

Still, the price was 5 cents less than a month ago and 40 cents less than a year ago.

Metro Detroit’s gas price average was $3.17 a gallon, with the highest gas price averages in Lansing, $3.27; Saginaw, $3.26 and Grand Rapids, $3.25; and the lowest in Traverse City, $3.02; Marquette, $3.16 and Jackson, $3.16.

About half the retail cost of gasoline is made up by crude oil prices, the American Petroleum Institute estimates; and crude oil prices have been trading down as gasoline demand in the United States has decreased.

Other factors that affect gasoline prices are: refining costs, about 25%; distribution and marketing costs, 11%, and federal and state taxes, 14%, according to the oil and natural gas industry trade group.

West Texas Intermediate, a benchmark representing oil produced in the United States, has been trading below $60 a barrel, a $ 4-a-barrel drop from a week ago. But some analysts have said that could be a sign of looming economic trouble.

While low oil prices tend to translate to lower gas prices, in countries that produce and export oil, like the United States, it also, OilPrice.com noted, can "lead to job losses, reduced tax revenues and broader economic consequences."

The energy publication added that falling oil prices also could "worsen the U.S. trade deficit — the very thing that tariffs are supposedly being used to fix," and it added, "the loudest advocates for tariffs — arguing they’ll fix our trade imbalance — are also cheering falling oil prices."

Trump largely dismissed those concerns on "Meet the Press," telling moderator Kristen Welker in an interview from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, that "many businesses are being helped" by the tariffs.

He said gas prices are falling, repeatedly claiming throughout the broadcast that the prices "are down at tremendous numbers for gasoline," and are "down to $1.98 in many states right now."

Later in the NBC show, one of the show’s roundtable guests, Democratic strategist Symone Townsend, challenged Trump's remarks, noting that "nowhere in this country is gas $1.98."

The average price of gas nationally on Sunday was $3.17 a gallon, according to AAA, and GasBuddy, which tracks prices at more than 150,000 stations, told CBS News in late April that it was aware of no station in the nation selling gas at $1.98 a gallon.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This story was updated to correct a unit of measurement per dollar figure.