You are using an outdated browser For a better experience using this site, please upgrade to a modern web browser. Subscribe Get Daily Email Subscribe --> Contact Us Sign in Home News & Features Compliance Costs Bunker Prices Bunker Intelligence EMEA News Latest Features World Americas EMEA Asia/Pacific Home News & Features EMEA US Flip Flops on Hormuz Tariff Plans as Criticism Rolls In US Flip Flops on Hormuz Tariff Plans as Criticism Rolls In by Ship & Bunker News Team Wednesday July 15, 2026 Tweet Follow @shipandbunker President Trump has backed away from the proposed Hormuz cargo fee. File Image / Pixabay The US has reversed course on a proposal made just a day earlier to impose a 20% fee on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz . The proposal was withdrawn on Tuesday , with President Donald Trump saying it would instead be replaced by commitments from Gulf states to make significant investments in the US. Before the U-turn, however, the plan drew criticism from across the shipping industry. Among those to speak out was Rolf Habben Jansen , CEO of container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd , who argued that charging vessels to pass through international waters was unjustified. "It would be fundamentally wrong to charge tolls for passage through international waters," he said on Tuesday  just before the proposal was withdrawn.  Jansen added that, unlike the Suez and Panama canals, the Strait of Hormuz is not a man-made waterway built through major infrastructure investment. "Tolls for infrastructure such as the Suez Canal or Panama Canal are different because they reflect major infrastructure investments, he said. "That is not the case in the Strait of Hormuz." Ship & Bunker News Team To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at [email protected] Also in the News Methanex to Idle 860,000 Mt/Year Methanol Plant in Trinidad and Tobago The company is starting the process of indefinitely idling its 860,000 mt/year plant in Trin