Trump Turned the Strait of Hormuz Into a Tollbooth

Dear Reader,

TWENTY PERCENT.

That is the toll the United States of America now charges every ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Not a fee for a service. Not a tax on Iranian goods. A toll on international commerce. On waters the world has called free for as long as anyone can remember.

Inside today's issue:

• The 3.5% CPI "victory" headline is built on a lull that already ended. Here is the real number Washington is hiding.
• Why the Hormuz toll signals something much bigger than Iran. It is the moment the petrodollar started showing its price tag.
• What $39.4 trillion in national debt means for the dollar sitting in your savings account right now.
• Larry Benedict just released a new presentation on a strategy called "Oil Skimming." It's worth a look.

CNN calls what happened Monday "strategic leverage." Reuters calls it a "seeming policy reversal."

I call it the empire charging admission.

Here is what Reuters reported July 13th, directly:

"The U.S. announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is reinstating a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage."

Six months ago, the U.S. position was clear. Free passage. No tolls. That is international law. That is what separates a great power from something else entirely.

Now it is 20%.

The New York Times confirmed: Trump's own administration previously held that such fees violate international law. They changed their minds. That kind of reversal has one explanation. Money.

Look at the numbers. U.S. national debt as of July 9, 2026: $39,414,179,016,130. That is $39.4 trillion. Global M2 money supply: $101,782 billion. The printing never stopped. It just got quieter.

Washington celebrated Tuesday because June CPI came in at 3.5%. Down from 4.2% in May. Markets rallied. Treasury yields fell. Victory was declared.

The WSJ buried the key sentence three paragraphs down: "Oil prices have surged so far this month after a collapse in the Iran ceasefire."

The only thing that dragged CPI lower was a temporary drop at the pump. That lull is already over. The ceasefire collapsed. Oil is back up. July's inflation print will not look like June's.

But here is what that Hormuz toll actually tells you about the next five years for your savings.

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Now. The Hormuz toll.

When a nation starts charging rent on international waters it has protected for free for 80 years, it is telling you something. It needs the money.

I study history. I have been studying it for 50 years. Empires do not collapse in a day. They erode. They start monetizing things they used to give away. They devalue their coin quietly at first, then all at once.

This is Rome in the 5th century. Not the Rome of legions and conquests. The Rome that started taxing river passage. The Rome that clipped its coins and hoped no one noticed.

The dollar remains the world reserve currency. For now. But allies who depend on Hormuz shipping are watching. They are asking whether the system they built their economies around still works the same way.

JPMorgan is projecting gold at $6,000 per ounce by year end. That is not me. That is not ZeroHedge. That is the largest bank in America telling its clients what the dollar is actually worth.

Gold is not an investment. I have been saying this for 50 years. Gold is a measurement. Right now it is measuring what they refuse to say out loud on CNBC.

Gold. Silver. Real assets. Hard things. Things they cannot print and cannot toll-road their way around.

That is what I own. That is what I will keep buying. Not the paper. Not the promise.

To your freedom,

Robert Kiyosaki

Author, Rich Dad Poor Dad

P.S. The book Hedge Fund Market Wizards profiles some of the greatest traders alive. And our friend Larry Benedict has his own chapter. Now this former hedge fund manager is turning to oil, and he says the market conditions forming right now are some of the best he's seen in 40 years. Watch the free presentation here.

You might also be interested in:

Trump to Unleash Giant $2.7 Trillion Gold Mine?

Trump's Plan to Charge a Toll in the Strait of Hormuz: What to Know (NYT)

Jim Rickards: The Dollar's Next Big Crisis

Inflation Slowed to 3.5% in June, But Oil Prices Already Reversing (WSJ)

Larry Benedict just released a new presentation on a strategy called "Oil Skimming." It's worth a look.