Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of his proposal to charge a 20% tariff on goods transiting the Strait of Hormuz, revising the measure announced 24 hours earlier, citing maritime route security costs.
Change in Trade Policy
Initially, Trump had stated on his Truth Social platform that the United States would be recognized as the 'Guardians of the Strait of Hormuz' and would demand a fee equivalent to 20% of the cargo value, in addition to planning to reinstate the blockade of Iranian ports. However, in a later post on the same social network, he announced that he opted to replace this 20% charge with 'trade and investment agreements' that various Gulf States would sign with the United States.
Investment and Employment Promises
This new approach was presented after Trump held 'very productive conversations with Middle Eastern leaders.' He predicted that the resulting investments would be 'enormous' and 'extraordinarily beneficial,' both for the United States and for the countries in the region, whose names were not specified. The former president promised that the US would achieve the largest investment in dollars in history, and that the new contributions would lead to an increase in this amount, bringing factories, industrial units, and equipment to the US at record levels, generating millions of well-paid jobs for Americans.
Stance on Iran and Security
Trump guaranteed that the United States was 'winning again like never before' and referenced an unconfirmed number of 52,000 protesters killed by Iran, citing events that occurred between late December 2025 and January of the current year. He reaffirmed that Iran would never possess a nuclear weapon, praising the 'impressive military power' of the United States during the conflict with Tehran, as well as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and high military commanders.
Trump added that, thanks to these forces, the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to all maritime traffic, except for Iran, holding the authorities in Tehran responsible, whom he described as 'liars, violent, and perverse.' He declared the intention to impose a complete blockade, but restricted only to ships entering or leaving Iranian ports or carrying any cargo linked to Iran. Recently, the United States has intensified attacks against Iran to prevent Tehran from attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which led to retaliation from Iran against Washington's regional allies, jeopardizing the ceasefire established on April 8 and the memorandum of understanding signed last June.