Here's a sentence you don't hear every day: "I'm so sorry. Such a terrible mistake." That's how former President Donald Trump began his correction after referring to the Strait of Hormuz as the "Strait of Trump" during a speech in Miami on Friday. But then he leaned into it.
"The fake news will say, 'He accidentally said' — no, there's no accidents with me," he told the crowd at the Future Investment Initiative, drawing laughter. "Not too many. If there were, we'd have a major story."
It was a classic Trump moment—part gaffe, part performance, entirely on-brand. But the joke landed against a deadly serious backdrop: oil prices were surging past $100 a barrel, largely because of what's happening in that very strait.
Why a Slip of the Tongue Matters for Your Gas Tank
While Trump was joking about renaming one of the world's most critical oil chokepoints, traders were watching the numbers climb. Crude oil futures jumped 7.09% to $101.18 per barrel. RBOB gasoline futures rose 4.97% to $3.2859 per gallon. ULSD heating oil futures spiked 7.36% to $4.5878 per gallon. Even natural gas got in on the action, up 2.73% to $3.081 per MMBtu.
The reason is simple: the Strait of Hormuz is a bottleneck. According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, average daily flows through the strait had plummeted to about 1.1 million barrels per day on a four-day moving average. For context, that's down from roughly 20 million barrels per day before the recent conflict escalated. That's a staggering drop, and it's why prices are reacting so violently.
The Geopolitics of a Narrow Waterway
The strait has become the central arena in the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Trump has claimed Iran is "begging" to negotiate, while Tehran has flatly denied any such intention. Earlier in the week, Trump floated an unconventional idea: joint control of the strait by "me and the ayatollah" as part of a broader resolution.
According to a report from the New York Post, the former president has also privately mused about renaming the strait after himself or potentially dubbing it the "Strait of America." It's the kind of idea that sounds like a joke until you remember who we're talking about.
The broader U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict is nearing the one-month mark. On Thursday, Trump extended Iran's deadline by 10 days to April 6 for reaching a deal. So the clock is ticking, the oil is flowing (less of it), and the former president is making quips about putting his name on a map.
It's a strange moment in markets. Usually, when a major oil transit route gets disrupted, the news is filled with sober analysis of supply chains and geopolitical risk. This time, we also get a former president doing a bit. But the numbers don't lie: whether you call it the Strait of Hormuz or the Strait of Trump, what happens there matters for what you pay at the pump.
