MaddowBlog-One day later, Trump abandons his plans for legally dubious tolls on Strait of Hormuz

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The president said his radical policy would “begin immediately.” Perhaps that wasn’t his best choice of words.

A story in three parts:

1. Trump positions the US as a mercenary force, illegally charging protection money in the Strait of Hormuz, upending centuries of foreign policy

2. Sycophants call it a masterstroke

3. Trump discovers he can’t execute his plan and abandons it in embarrassing fashion

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-14T16:17:28.751Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-abandons-tolls-strait-of-hormuz

Even by Donald Trump’s standards, the president floated an unusually radical plan for U.S. policy in the Middle East as the week got underway. During a Fox News interview on Monday morning, Trump suggested that the United States would “probably” take control of the Strait of Hormuz — for a price.,,,,

Assorted Trump sycophants suggested the announcement reflected some kind of brilliant masterstroke, though in hindsight, they probably should’ve held off a little before celebrating. Roughly one day after making the radical declaration, the Republican decided to back off his own idea. In a social media post published Tuesday morning, the president wrote:

Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States. Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.

.....Before this absurdity fades from view, it’s worth pausing to appreciate just how ridiculous Trump’s plan was. He publicly touted a policy in which the U.S. became a mercenary force, illegally charging foreigners for protection and upending centuries of American foreign policy.

The idea sparked all kinds of questions about how this would work, whether it violated international laws, how exactly we intended to collect the toll and what the administration intended to do with the money. Thankfully, as Trump abandons his own foolish proposal, those questions are now moot.