The White House has argued that there is little it can do to halt the trend with external factors like growth in China, India, and other emerging economies pushing up the prices.

WASHINGTON- Amid a national spike in gas prices, the White House has once again argued that there is little it can do to halt the trend with external factors like growth in China, India, and other emerging economies pushing up the prices.

"We are living in a world where there is a global oil market and that price is affected by a number of factors that are not necessarily within the control of policymakers in Washington," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.

The external factors include unrest and economic growth in parts of the world, he said. "It is a fact that the pace of growth in some of the emerging economies of the world creates a vastly increased demand for fossil fuels."

"Growth in China, growth in India, growth in Brazil and elsewhere-and that creates more demand, and that has an impact on oil prices," Carney said.

US economic growth, which has been continuing now for a number of quarters and has resulted in the creation of 3.7 million private sector jobs, also creates greater demand for oil and gas, he said.

Obama's "commitment is to pursue a policy that enhances American energy security and enhances American energy independence," Carney said.

"The only way we can insulate ourselves in the future from the kind of shocks caused by fluctuating oil prices on the global market is to do just that-to take an approach that has, by the way, resulted in a reduction already since he's been President," he added.