Donald Trump has announced he is dropping plans unveiled just a day earlier to impose a 20% toll on cargo ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The US President said he had decided to replace the proposed “United States Reimbursement Fee” with trade and investment deals following what he described as “highly productive conversations” with Middle East leaders.
Trump announced on Monday that the US would charge ships a 20% fee for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz while reinstating a blockade on Iranian shipping. At the time, he said the US would become the “guardian of the Hormuz Strait” and argued the charge would reimburse America for providing security in the strategically important waterway.
He said the new approach would instead involve trade and investment agreements with Gulf states.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.
“Those Investments will be masive but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
Trump also claimed the Strait of Hormuz was now open to all shipping except Iranian vessels following recent US military operations.
He wrote: “The Strait of Hormuz is open to all ship traffic except for Iran.
“We will therefore have a full blockade, but only on ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo.”
The President praised Pete Hegseth, Dan Caine and Admiral Brad Cooper, saying their efforts had helped keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping.
He also claimed the new investment agreements would lead to factories, plants and equipment being built across the United States, creating “millions of high paying American jobs”.
Ending his statement, Trump reiterated his stance on Iran, writing: “The days of Iran killing hundreds of thousands of people… are over and, most importantly, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon”
