▲ U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi during their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on July 14, 2026, in this photo released by EPA. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Trump-Hormuz Strait

(LEAD) Trump drops 20 pct Hormuz fee, instead seeks investment deals with Gulf states

(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead; UPDATES throughout; CHANGES photo)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dropped his proposal to impose a 20 percent "reimbursement" fee on cargo shipped through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, saying that he will replace it with trade and investment deals with Middle Eastern countries.

Trump made the remarks in a social media post, just a day after he announced that the United States will serve as the "guardian" of the strait and be "reimbursed" at a 20 percent rate on all cargo shipped through the waterway that Iran had all but closed amid the Middle East conflict.

"Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20 percent United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future. As everyone is aware, we have the largest Dollar Investment into the United States, of any Country in History, but these new Investments will make that Number even larger," he added.

Trump's plan for the reimbursement fee had caused concerns among countries that rely heavily on the Strait of Hormuz for energy imports. Some saw the move as contradictory to senior U.S. officials' recent remarks that no country is allowed to charge tolls on the strait that they have described as an "international waterway."

During a press availability, Trump said that he scrapped the proposed fee as Gulf state officials told him over the phone that they would like to "do it a different way" and invest in the U.S. "with billions and billions of dollars."

"(They told me) 'we would like to invest tremendously in the U.S. as opposed to charging a fee,' and I like that actually because I don't think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait or for any other strait," he told reporters during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House.

"I don't think anybody should be really in that position, but we were doing it as a reimbursement. The Gulf states are going to invest a tremendous amount of money into the U.S., and that was very satisfactory to me. I think it's actually much better."

The proposal for the fee came as disruptions to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil, natural gas and other commodities, continued amid the Middle East conflict.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have further escalated as the U.S. plans to reinstate its blockade of Iranian ports, weeks after it had been lifted. The move, coupled with continued exchanges of strikes between the two countries, has fueled concerns over a potential return to all-out war.

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