White House Official: Trump is "Very Serious" about a 20% Transit Fee Plan for Hormuz

Odaily Planet Daily News According to US media outlet Semafor, a White House official stated that Trump is "very serious" about his plan to impose a 20% transit fee on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a plan he has been looking to advance for months. Trump has long been interested in imposing transit fees; in April, he questioned why his administration "didn't" do so and threatened to start collecting fees in June if an agreement with Iran was not reached within 60 days. However, Trump does not always follow through on his ideas, and until this week, he had refused to formally announce the plan—partly due to opposition from some within his inner circle. "This has always been something he wanted to do, but some people tried to persuade him to abandon it,"

a White House official said. "For him, it has always been his instinctive decision; he just came back to it again." It remains unclear how this fee system, linked to the re-imposition of a naval blockade in the strait, would operate, or whether the US has even consulted with Gulf states on the matter. According to the official, the details of the plan are still being finalized. (Jin Shi)