The United States spent four months building a legal and moral case against tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. On June 24, Trump called any fee on transiting shipping unacceptable. Marco Rubio, asked about the distinction between a fee and a toll, said there wasn’t one — it was an international waterway, and no nation on Earth supported paying to cross it. Washington told the Gulf states, told Singapore, told the European Commission, and told Beijing that the principle was not negotiable.