That assumes the market just sits still when oil prices rise. It doesn’t.

Yes, higher fuel prices can raise shipping costs in the short term. But they also create strong incentives to shift to cheaper alternatives. When oil becomes expensive, companies move freight to rail, electrify delivery fleets, source goods more locally, and invest in more efficient logistics. Higher oil prices don’t just make everything permanently expensive. They change the market.

Price pressure pushes businesses toward transportation methods that use less or no fossil fuel, which becomes more competitive over time.

Markets adapt. That’s how price signals work.