Lower American fuel prices do not justify legitimizing Delcy Rodríguez’s government

Coverage of the American economy and the policy that shapes it: inflation, employment, tariffs, taxation and the federal budget. Distinct from business news, which follows companies rather than the decisions taken in Congress and at the Federal Reserve.

Household prices for food, housing, energy, healthcare and other everyday necessities, and the economic policies blamed or credited for them. Central to how American voters judge an administration, and argued through inflation, wages, interest rates, tariffs and gasoline prices.

United States strategy and action abroad, spanning diplomacy, alliances, sanctions, foreign aid and military commitments. Formally the president's domain, though Congress holds the purse and the treaty power, which makes most of it a negotiation between the two branches of government.

United States policy and political debate over how energy is produced, priced, distributed and regulated, spanning fossil fuels, nuclear power, renewables and the electric grid. Sits where climate policy, industrial strategy and consumer costs collide, which is why it rarely stays technical.

Seventeen fields holding an estimated 65 billion barrels passed under American control on 28 August, granted on a hundred-year concession by Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president installed after Maduro was removed and never elected. Rubio and Hegseth negotiated it, and Washington may auction the fields to American producers.