Donald Trump is trying to spin skyrocketing oil prices caused by the war in Iran as good for the U.S. “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday morning, suggesting that Americans would see economic benefits as gas prices shoot up. That may be true for American gas and oil companies, but Americans who don’t work in that industry aren’t likely to see any of those companies’ profits. In fact, they will likely get sticker shock when they go to fill up their cars, with gas prices already exceeding $5 a gallon in California. But on some level, Trump knows that high oil prices aren’t good for the U.S., at least from a political standpoint. On Wednesday, Trump said he would open the U.S. strategic oil reserves and release 172 million barrels of oil to help bring prices down. “We’ll do that, and then we’ll fill it up,” Trump told a local Cincinnati TV station. “I filled it up once, and I’ll fill it up again. But right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down.”Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the releases will begin next week and take about 120 days. The reserve is about 59 percent full, with the Trump administration replenishing only small amounts of oil. The last time it was tapped was by President Biden in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran has taken control of the Strait of Hormuz and blocked all ships, including oil tankers, from entering or leaving. The country is actually exporting more of its own oil than it was before the war, making a tidy profit itself. Right now, the 20 million barrels of crude oil that usually traverse through the strait are stuck thanks to an Iranian blockade reinforced by sea mines. The U.S. typically consumes a similar amount of crude oil each day. If the strait doesn’t reopen soon, American oil producers might be happy as their stocks gain value, but the average American will end up having to spend a massive chunk of their paycheck on gas, causing a ripple effect that will further hurt the economy.