The Emperor’s Tollbooth

1. Literally or Seriously?

Yesterday the president of the United States made an announcement that changed the face of the world order. He declared that, starting immediately, the United States would charge a 20 percent toll on the shipping of all goods through the Strait of Hormuz.

We should be clear: This was never going to happen.

• The U.S. Navy will not keep a fleet of ships in the region permanently.

• Neither China, India, Japan, Australia, nor any other country will pay 20 percent tariffs to the United States on cargo moving through the strait.

• This was make-believe. The president of the United States was issuing proclamations utterly detached from reality, like a late-stage Saddam Hussein.

You can tell that Trump’s plan is make-believe because of the non-reaction from the rest of the world. If the Chinese, or the Europeans, or our allies in the Indo-Pacific believed that there was about to be a permanent 20 percent upcharge on all shipping through the strait, they would have freaked the eff out. They would be gearing up for war.

Because that’s what Trump’s “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” proposal was: an act of war.

And then, at 11:04 a.m. this morning, Trump changed his mind. The “Guardian” plan was off. Instead, he’s going to force unspecified Gulf states to make undetermined “investments” in the United States in exchange for passage through the strait.

The most powerful country in the world is governed by a madman.

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I want to take Trump’s scheme seriously for a moment, though, to help you understand just how insane our president is. It’s going to require a deep-dive on maritime law, though.

Prepare for some scintillating #content...