A White House official told Semafor that Trump is "very serious" about imposing
a 20% fee on goods transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a plan he has pushed for
months. He has long sought such a levy, queried in April why his administration
"wouldn't" do it, and threatened to start charging in June if an agreement with
Iran was not reached within 60 days. The official said Trump has not always
acted on such ideas and until this week had resisted formally announcing the
plan, partly due to opposition within his inner circle. It remains unclear how a
fee linked to restarting a maritime blockade of the strait would operate or
whether the US has consulted Gulf states; plan details are still being
finalized.
