President Donald Trump sharply criticized the U.S. oil industry on Monday, arguing that the country's largest energy companies should return a portion of their surging profits to the American public.

"I don't like it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the massive earnings reported by ExxonMobil and Chevron last week amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.

"They're making too much money, okay, based on a shortage," he continued. "I don't like it, and I should be the last one to say it because I'm a big free enterprise guy," he said, before adding: "Nobody bigger."

The remarks placed Trump — who has styled himself as a champion of deregulated energy production — in an unusual public standoff with an industry he has otherwise championed, drawing parallels to the Biden administration's similar pressure on oil majors during the 2022 price spike triggered by the war in Ukraine.

ExxonMobil reported earning $14.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026 — double what it earned during the same period a year earlier. Chevron posted $12 billion in quarterly profits, marking its highest earnings in at least six years, according to Reuters.

"Chevron, too much money. ExxonMobil, too much. Too much money," Trump said.

"When you look at one company where they made 12 times what they made the year before, they ought to give some of that back to the public, and they better cut the retail price, the consumer price," Trump added. "I'll say it loud and clear. I'm not happy about it."

The president also predicted that gasoline prices would "drop through the floor" once the war with Iran concludes.

The earnings reports arrived as the Iran conflict periodically pushed oil prices above $100 a barrel. However, oil prices fell again on Monday as signs emerged that U.S.–Iran tensions were easing, Reuters reported.

"The sharp drop in oil prices, due to Trump's cancellation of severe attacks against Iran and hopes of a diplomatic resolution, set the ball rolling this morning," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York, told Reuters.

Earlier on Monday, Trump also targeted Chevron CEO Mike Wirth for failing to acknowledge the administration's efforts to support the oil industry. The criticism followed Wirth's appearance on "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo," where he warned that the Iran conflict has created a "very real threat" to global oil supplies.

"The only thing he conveniently forgot to mention is that, without the genius, foresight, strength, and stability of the TRUMP Administration, the Oil Industry, and our Country itself, would be DEAD!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

"As an example, they threw Mike and Chevron out of Venezuela, but now they're back, far bigger and stronger than ever before, expecting to make a fortune!" he added.

The national average gasoline price has topped $4 per gallon, according to AAA, amid renewed U.S. military strikes on Iran. Trump's public demand for consumer price cuts comes as the administration navigates competing pressures: sustaining domestic energy production as a strategic asset while managing the political fallout of elevated fuel costs tied to a foreign conflict.