President Donald Trump said on June 24 that foreign countries should protect their own oil tankers in the Middle East, suggesting that other countries have been relying too heavily on the United States to ensure the safe passage of their oil around the world without giving back.
In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump brought up China and Japan—two countries that obtain the majority of their oil from the Strait of Hormuz. Trump made the comments as he was preparing to impose additional sanctions on Iran, after he stopped a retaliatory missile strike from going forward on June 21.
