A toll and promises of safe passage raise complicated questions for the shipping industry, eager to rescue crews and cargoes stuck in the Persian Gulf.

The agreement includes an amendment that would nullify the deal in the event the Trump administration enacts new tariffs against the EU.

Roughly 98% of the Philippines' crude oil imports come from the Middle East, according to estimates from the Philippine Information Agency.

Constraints have largely kept containerized trade in the region reliant on coastal ports and inland rail and trucking connections.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence has already sent military planners to U.S. Central Command to help find ways to get tankers through the strait.

The process points to Iran’s increasing efforts to assert control over the vital maritime channel.

Companies routinely operate their most valuable manufacturing know-how in jurisdictions where they hold no enforceable intellectual property rights.

Eliminating costs created by the Jones Act temporarily represents a drop in the bucket compared to the global market swings created by the war in Iran.

It’s yet another example of the country claiming sovereignty over the waterway, with the war now in a fourth week.

The charges raise the issues of sovereignty, precedent and the potential weaponization of a vital trade route for other countries' energy exports.