Gov. Hochul Wednesday mocked President Trump’s plan to share Strait of Hormuz shipping tolls with Iran, comparing the proposal to another transit pricing scheme the president has vehemently opposed.
“So let’s get this straight. Trump’s plan is… congestion pricing?” Hochul’s press office tweeted.
The sarcastic missive came a couple of hours after Trump told ABC News that the U.S. hopes to launch a “joint venture” with Iran to collect revenue from oil tankers and other ships passing through the Straits of Hormuz.
“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture” Trump said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
The Iranians have so far been charging up to $2 million per tanker for the right to sail through the strategic waterway that handles about 20% of the world’s oil supply.
The putative plan to divvy up the cash from friend and foe alike would appear to mark a dramatic shift from Trump’s threats to blow Iran “back to the Stone Age, where they belong.”
To the wonks in Hochul’s press shop, the Hormuz marine tollbooth sounded more like a creative government revenue-generation plan, sort of, kind of like the congestion pricing toll on drivers heading into Midtown and lower Manhattan.
Hochul originally opposed the Manhattan toll plan, which recently marked its one-year anniversary, and delayed its implementation. She eventually got on board with a scaled-back plan.
A year later, the congestion pricing scheme is widely considered a success, with less traffic choking city streets and more money for public transit.
Trump fought hard to block the toll plan and even threatened to cut off federal funding to New York if it went into effect. The feds lost a court case and a judge ruled the plan could proceed.
His Persian Gulf toll-share scheme might have a trickier road ahead of it.
