US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide insurance and guarantees for the financial security of all maritime trade, including oil tankers, traveling through the Persian Gulf region.
""Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade," he said in comments in a social media post.
"If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible."
Trump has made lower fuel costs for Americans central to his economic messaging, and the move signals a willingness to use financial and military tools to prevent disruptions to global crude supplies. “No matter what, the United States will ensure the free flow of energy to the world,” Trump said in a social media post.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Americans may have to live with higher oil prices for a short period, “but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before.”
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by David Ljunggren)
