Trump says he reversed course on 20% fee after other countries called him: “I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee”

President Trump said Tuesday he changed his mind on charging 20% Strait of Hormuz cargo fees after many countries called him. European allies and others were highly critical of the idea.

“I was called by different people, different countries,” the president told reporters shortly after announcing the fee reversal. “Kings and emirs … and they said, ‘We’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars.'”

“I like that actually because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” said the president, who had proposed the fee on Monday.

Still, the president said the U.S. should benefit in some way from securing the strait, which was open before the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran war.