US President Donald Trump withdrew his plan to charge a 20% 'toll' on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz just one day after announcing it, saying trade and investment agreements with Middle Eastern states would cover security costs instead. The naval blockade of Iran remains in place.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on July 14 that 'based on highly productive talks with Middle Eastern leaders, I have decided to replace America's 20% compensation fee with trade and investment agreements to be signed with various Middle Eastern countries,' Kyunghyang reported.

A toll folded within a day

A day earlier Trump had unilaterally declared the US would collect 20% of the value of shipped cargo in return for the US military guaranteeing merchant shipping through the strait. Objections that this violated transit passage rights under the law of the sea were joined by immediate pushback from Gulf oil exporters.

Chosun Ilbo noted Trump's Hormuz policy has now changed five times in three months — from lifting the blockade to reimposing it, to a toll, to investment deals — leaving markets and allies whiplashed.

United Daily News traced the confusion to Washington and Tehran reading last month's ceasefire MOU in fundamentally different ways — an unresolved fight over who sets the rules of the strait.

Blockade continues — Oman mediates, UN warns

The toll is gone but the bar on Iranian vessels and the naval blockade continue. Liberty Times reported Trump said the blockade of Iran would persist even as he touted investment deals with Gulf states.

Oman said it would 'cooperate neutrally to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,' offering to mediate — a role it has quietly played between Washington and Tehran before.

At the UN, officials warned a prolonged closure could ripple far beyond the region, hitting human rights and livelihoods elsewhere through food and energy prices, Liberty Times reported.

Stakes for Korea, China and Taiwan

About a fifth of the world's oil passes through Hormuz. Scrapping the toll averts the worst cost scenario, but with the blockade continuing, uncertainty over freight and insurance remains. Korea, China and Taiwan — all heavily dependent on Middle East crude — are watching the fine print of the deals.

A third perspective

Among Gulf producers, some see 'investment over tolls' as the pragmatic outcome, while others call security-linked investment demands just another bill. European shippers say rules changing by the day is itself the biggest risk. For Chinese diaspora traders on Middle East routes, the practical priority is tracking freight surcharges and insurance terms until the agreements take concrete shape.