KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

Trump’s cheaper gas network hasn’t reached WA yet, Curley questions who’s footing the bill

Jul 8, 2026, 9:30 AM

The Trump administration announced it has launched a couple dozen “Freedom Fuel” gas stations to create cheaper gas options.

While the “Freedom Fuel” gas stations have yet to show up on the West Coast, KIRO host John Curley and his producer Joe Wallace tried to sort out what these gas stations are and how they can operate at lower prices.

“You and I, we have a different theory on this,” Wallace said to Curley.

“Your theory is that these things operate at a loss, and then the federal government reimburses them,” Curley said.

With 20 of the 25 “Freedom Fuel” gas stations located in Philadelphia, White House staff revealed the prices.

“The FIRST Freedom Fuel Network gas station has LANDED in Philadelphia, lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th President,” the White House wrote on X on Tuesday.

With gas prices nearly $4 throughout the state of Philadelphia, the “Freedom Fuel” gas stations are providing a much cheaper alternative.

“Beyond the clearly campaign ad that we just watched that the White House put out, that’s full of actors, I will bet you a Snickers that we are paying for this,” Wallace said. “We’re subsidizing these gas stations.”

“What I’d seen was that the corporation that set this thing up, just launched a couple of weeks ago. It’s using the same name that Trump normally uses when he sets up an LLC, OK, fine. But that they’re going to operate at a loss, and the federal government’s gonna fill in the back part of it,” Curley said.

“You think that these gas stations are participating just because they’re going to get a loyal customer,” Wallace said.

“You bring people in. Other gas stations have done this as well. You drop the price for like one or two days, and then people go outside, go there again, and maybe you’ve slowly jacked it back up again,” Curley added.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Trump’s cheaper gas network hasn’t reached WA yet, Curley questions who’s footing the bill