OPINION: Faced with soaring inflation, payroll pressures and supply chain problems in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden says he is committed to doing everything in his power to ease the burden on Americans.

But pressures seem to be intensifying, amid warnings by JP Morgan analyst Phil Gresh that a hike in gasoline prices to $6 a gallon, just seen in California, could soon be replicated nationwide.