On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Open Interest,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett responded to a question on what the White House will do to act on President Donald Trump’s rhetoric that oil companies are contributing to high prices by saying that “Big Oil is heavily concentrated in the U.S.” “But the bottom line is that the global energy price story is a positive one compared to what people thought.” And it’s an issue for the FTC and DOJ.
Co-host Dani Burger asked, “This is a president who has singled out Big Oil, both Exxon and Chevron specifically, amid this ongoing crisis. What steps is this White House going to do in order to act on the idea that Big Oil is contributing to the inflation we’re seeing and higher prices?”
Hassett answered, “Well, I think that Big Oil is heavily concentrated in the U.S. It’s something to keep an eye on. But the bottom line is that the global energy price story is a positive one compared to what people thought. And I think that the things that have made it positive are going to make prices drop very, very quickly once this is resolved.”
Burger then cut in to follow up, “So, Director Hassett, when you say too concentrated, they’re just too big, is it kind of an antitrust issue, you think?”
Hassett responded, “As an economist, you could look at something like the Herfindahl Index and just think about, like, what share of the market does any business have. And that’s something that is a source of investigation for people at the FTC and the Justice Department. That’s not something that’s within the purview of the NEC.”
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