The US wants to charge 20% on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump announced on Monday.
And Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten has already made it clear that the Netherlands will have nothing to do with it.
If that sounds like a lot of money for a stretch of water, that’s because it is. And the fight over what happens next involves The Hague, Brussels, and quite possibly your energy bill.
So what exactly is Trump proposing?
Alongside a reinstated naval blockade of Iranian ports, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US should be paid 20% of the value of all cargo shipped through the strait in exchange for protecting it.
“From this moment on, the US will be known as the protector of the Strait of Hormuz,” he claimed.
Exactly how anyone would collect this money is not something he addressed, according to NOS. The blockade itself takes effect at 10 PM Dutch time.
The Dutch reaction was blunt
Jetten’s response has been direct. “A toll is out of the question,” he told ANP. “That’s a view we really hold Europe-wide.” He called the plan a very bad proposal, and said the Netherlands absolutely won’t cooperate with it.
He added that further escalation serves nobody, and that the warring parties need to get back to negotiating a peace deal.
The same message came out of Brussels. Speaking after Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers, Kaja Kallas put it plainly:
“Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was open to shipping without tolls. After the end of the war, the Strait must be open to shipping without tolls.”
How will this affect you?
Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally moves through this strait, and the market reacts instantly. Oil posted its biggest single-day gain since April, with Brent closing above $83 a barrel.
That feeds straight into petrol at the pump and the energy bill landing in your inbox — something we’ve already seen play out this year as Dutch shipping struggled to get through at all.
Is a toll even legal?
Put simply, nee. The UN’s International Maritime Organisation said there’s no legal basis for mandatory tolls simply to pass through a strait used for international navigation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said much the same thing in late June, when it was Iran floating the idea. So, Washington is now proposing the exact thing it recently called illegal.
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