The White House says Trump is “very serious” about his 20% toll collection plan

BlockBeats updates: On July 14, according to U.S. media outlet Semafor, a White House official said that Trump is “very serious” about his plan to impose a 20% toll on goods transiting the Strait of Hormuz—an initiative he has been trying to push for months.

Trump has long been interested in charging tolls. In April, he questioned why his government didn’t “why not” do so, and threatened that if an agreement with Iran was not completed within 60 days, he would charge fees in June. But Trump has not always carried his ideas into action, and until this week he had refused to formally announce the plan—partly because some people within his inner circle opposed it. “This has always been something he wanted to do, but someone tried to persuade him to give it up,”

the White House official said. “For him, this has always been his instinctive decision—he’s just circled back to it again.” It is not yet clear how this fee system, which is associated with restarting a maritime blockade of the strait, would operate, nor is it clear whether the United States has even held consultations on it with Gulf countries. According to the official, the details of the plan are still being finalized.