According to Reuters on August 27, citing sources, this move is the White House's most direct intervention in gasoline prices to date, aiming to alleviate the impact of high oil prices on voters' cost of living by bringing mid-to-downstream companies in the industry chain directly to the negotiating table before the midterm elections. Previously, the Donald Trump administration's pressure remained at indirect levels, such as instructing the Department of Justice to investigate oil companies that did not lower prices in sync, and calling for price reductions by naming them on social media.