US President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course on July 14, announcing the cancellation of a planned 20% fee on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. Trump stated that, in light of "productive discussions" with leaders of Middle Eastern nations, he had decided to drop the fee in favour of trade and investment agreements between the Gulf states and the United States.

When asked by a reporter why he had withdrawn the decision to charge for goods transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Trump claimed, "I've always felt it was very unfair, we guard the strait but we get virtually no oil out of it." After floating the idea of a fee, he received calls from the leaders of various countries who proposed an alternative approach—making large-scale investments in the United States in lieu of paying transit fees.

However, even as Mr. Trump shelved the fee plan, the United States nonetheless announced that it had resumed its blockade of Iranian ports and coastal shipping as of 4:00 p.m. US Eastern Time. US Central Command posted on X that it had completed more than seven hours of sustained strikes against dozens of targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along the Iranian coastline, aimed at degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping.

The developments followed a social media post by Mr. Trump on July 13 in which he stated that the United States would reimpose a naval blockade on Iran and impose a 20% charge on all cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz.