Just before, Trump had issued a policy to impose a 20% freight fee for the Strait of Hormuz—but within a day, he directly rescinded it. The unilateral charging plan faced coordinated opposition from shipping countries worldwide, and on top of that, Middle Eastern countries increased investment into the US and made concessions. After weighing the pros and cons, the White House urgently halted it.

If the fee had gone into effect, the costs for all tankers transiting the strait would have surged sharply; crude oil prices would have continued climbing, and global imported inflation would have risen again. That would have been yet another blow to markets already worried about the pressure from interest-rate hikes. After the policy was scrapped, crude oil quickly surged and then fell back, and inflation anxiety in the market eased noticeably.