The Daily View: US wants to reopen Red Sea — for a price
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THE Red Sea crisis is in the headlines again, courtesy of an embarrassing snafu by top Trump administration officials, who mistakenly included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, in a confidential Signal group chat on air strikes in Yemen.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the military action was necessary for “restoring freedom of navigation, a core national interest”. He said president Trump gave the directive “to reopen shipping lanes”.
Vice-president JD Vance argued the Houthi strikes were “a mistake”, because just “3% of US trade runs through the Suez”, while “40% of European trade does”. He added, “I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
“I fully share your loathing of European free-loading,” said Hegseth. “It’s PATHETIC.”
Thus, the US expects to be paid back for its Red Sea effort. “Per the president’s request, we are working with DOD (the Department of Defense) and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans,” said national security advisor Michael Waltz.
An account named “S M” (which Goldberg assumed was White House chief of staff Stephen Miller) said, “If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost, there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”
The Trump administration may be in for a long wait to collect that bill.
With US strikes in Yemen and renewed fighting in Israel, shipping analysts and brokers are now even less confident of a near-term return to the Red Sea.
Trump’s effort to restore freedom of navigation is certainly laudable (albeit undercut by the billing plan), but shipowners, not governments, will decide when the Red Sea reopens, and shipowners will not return — and risk their crew and assets — if there’s even a chance of Houthi attacks.
The reality is that global shipping is highly flexible and long ago adapted to the Cape of Good Hope route. Deployments and rates have fully adjusted. It may still be called the “Red Sea crisis”, but there is no longer a crisis in global freight markets due to the Houthis.
Greg Miller,
Senior maritime reporter, Lloyd’s List