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How could gas prices in the Pittsburgh area be impacted by tariffs?

How tariffs could impact Pittsburgh-area gas prices
How tariffs could impact Pittsburgh-area gas prices 02:58

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- With the United States and China having launched a trade war and more possible tariffs on the way, many are left wondering the impact it could have on gas prices here in the Pittsburgh area.

KDKA's John Shumway checked in with GasBuddy for some answers.

The short answer is that prices are already going up, but not due to tariffs.

If those tariffs between Canada and Mexico do kick in a month from now, there's actually a slight tinge of measured optimism about what we will be paying here at the pump. 

How about we start with the very qualified good news?

Patrick De Haan, Head of Petroleum Analysis for GasBuddy says there should be very minimal impact to the Pittsburgh region.

The good news is qualified because De Haan points out that we're quite reliant on Canada for oil, with the United States receiving between 4 and 4.5 million barrels of Canadian oil every day. 

De Haan says that Canada is by far our country's number one foreign supplier of oil, and a lot of it comes into the Great Lakes region's refineries, which do then send gas to western Pennsylvania.

"There's also refined product that flows from areas east, closer to Philadelphia, Delaware City's refinery," De Haan said. "A lot of that crude oil is not Canadian, so it may have a very limited impact in Pittsburgh."

De Haan also says that if this does happen, it will be as gas prices are already on the rise for seasonal reasons. 

"We're at about $3.50 a gallon in Pittsburgh," De Haan said. "That's up about 11 cents in the last month."

Tariffs would make the springtime pinch even worse. 

"Overall, I would expect prices to be 20 to 60 cents a gallon, higher, probably in mid April than where we are today," De Haan said. "A very small portion of that increase, maybe five to 10 cents, maybe 15 cents, depending on how Canada retaliates, or if they do, would be the tariffs."

The rest, De Haan says, will be seasonal increases that he says will happen anyway, which means we could see up to 45 cents more per gallon without the tariffs. 

Could we be heading for the cheapest gas going over 4 dollars per gallon again? 

It's possible, but De Haan says it could be worse if thing don't get worked out and President Trump goes back to the 25% tariff he originally threatened. 

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