GOP Senator Tillis Calls Trump’s Proposed Tolls on Strait of Hormuz Shipping ‘Crazy’

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) publicly broke with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, calling the administration’s floated proposal to impose U.S. tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz “crazy.” The rare intra-party rebuke comes after Trump told reporters last week that he would like the United States to charge tolls on vessels carrying oil, natural gas, and other commodities through the critical waterway — a suggestion that has raised alarm among trade experts, military strategists, and members of both parties.

The Strait of Hormuz is the single most strategically important maritime chokepoint on Earth. Situated between Iran to the north and the United Arab Emirates and Oman to the south, the narrow waterway connects the Persian Gulf — home to the massive oil-producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE — with the Gulf of Oman and the open Indian Ocean beyond. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly one-fifth of all petroleum liquids consumed globally pass through this passage daily. Any disruption to traffic in the strait historically sends immediate shockwaves through global oil prices, as demonstrated during the Iran-Iraq War “Tanker War” of the 1980s and more recent Iranian threats and seizures of commercial vessels. Trump’s proposal to impose tolls — though still in a conceptual phase — would represent a dramatic departure from decades of American policy aimed at keeping the waterway open and free. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars maintaining its naval presence in the Persian Gulf precisely to guarantee the free flow of commerce, viewing it as a matter of both economic and national security.

Tillis’s criticism is notable for several reasons. The North Carolina senator is generally considered a reliable Republican ally and has supported much of the Trump agenda. His willingness to use the word “crazy” to describe a sitting president’s policy idea from within his own party underscores the depth of concern the proposal has generated among lawmakers with foreign policy and trade expertise. Critics of the toll idea have raised a series of practical and legal objections. First, the United States does not have sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz — it is bounded by Iranian and Omani territorial waters. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ships of all nations enjoy the right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation, a principle the U.S. itself has vigorously defended for decades, even though Washington has never formally ratified UNCLOS. Attempting to charge tolls on foreign vessels in waters the U.S. does not control would likely be viewed by the international community as a violation of customary international law and could provoke confrontations with Iran, China, and other nations whose ships regularly transit the strait. Second, energy analysts warn that toll costs would almost certainly be passed along to consumers in the form of higher fuel prices — directly contradicting Trump’s stated goal of lowering energy costs for American households.

The proposal also comes at a particularly sensitive moment in Middle Eastern geopolitics. The Trump administration has been engaged in nuclear negotiations with Iran, while simultaneously maintaining a policy of “maximum pressure” through sanctions. Introducing a toll regime on the strait could give Tehran a justification to impose its own fees or restrictions, potentially escalating into a broader confrontation. China, which imports roughly 40% of its crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, would also likely view such tolls as a hostile economic measure. Meanwhile, Gulf Arab allies — who depend on the strait for virtually all of their oil exports — have privately expressed unease about any policy that could increase friction in the waterway, according to diplomatic observers. The Trump administration has not yet detailed any formal mechanism for how such tolls would be collected or enforced, and it remains unclear whether the proposal will advance beyond the president’s public musings. Congressional leaders from both parties will be watching closely for any executive action that attempts to implement the idea without legislative authorization.

Looking ahead, the key question is whether Trump’s toll suggestion evolves from a rhetorical trial balloon into a concrete policy initiative. If the administration moves forward, it would almost certainly face legal challenges, congressional opposition from both parties, and fierce pushback from trading partners. Tillis’s early and blunt criticism may signal that even a Republican-controlled Senate would be reluctant to authorize such a measure. For now, global energy markets and shipping companies are treating the idea as unlikely to materialize — but in a political environment where tariffs and transactional diplomacy have repeatedly reshaped trade norms, few observers are willing to dismiss it entirely.