Published July 13, 2026 at 11:26 AM ET · Updated July 13, 2026 at 12:07 PM ET
Trump unveils Strait of Hormuz plan and warns free transit is over
2 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Confirmed — reported independently by wire/mainstream and conservative outlets. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
President Trump announced that the U.S. will maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz and impose a 20 percent fee on cargo passing through. The plan would end free transit through the strategically vital waterway.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 7 hr ago, when The Blaze reported it. Coverage has since grown to 2 independent outlets, including 1 wire/mainstream feed. The most recent report came 7 hr ago from CBS News. Verification tier: Confirmed — reported independently by wire/mainstream and conservative outlets.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Learning Resources v. V.O.S. Selections held that IEEPA does not authorize presidential tariffs and that the duty power belongs to Congress, with no inherent executive authority for peacetime tariffs. A 20 percent cargo fee is a duty in substance. Under Youngstown, presidential power must stem from an act of Congress or the Constitution, and emergency does not create power. A Hormuz fee would hit the same textual wall.
Learning Resources v. V.O.S. Selections 607 U.S. 229 (2026)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Roberts (C.J.)
THE ANSWER TO THE LITIGATED QUESTION: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The Constitution vests the power to lay taxes and duties in Congress; the Executive has no inherent authority to impose peacetime tariffs (a point the government conceded), so any presidential tariff power must come from a congressional delegation. IEEPA's grant of authority to 'regulate ...
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (The Steel Seizure Case) — CROSS-REFERENCE ENTRY 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Black
SHORT FORM (full apparatus lives in the presidential-immunity entry): President Truman's Korean War seizure of the steel mills was unlawful — the President's power 'must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself,' and neither source supplied it, particularly where Congress had considered and withheld seizure authority. Youngstown supplies the Jackson framework through which Dames & Moore, Zivotofsky, and the 2026 IEEPA tariff decision were all argued: emergency does not create power; it marks the occasion for exercising powers that must already exist.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
