The war over the Strait of Hormuz is rapidly becoming a cost-of-living story. Oil rose to a one-month high Tuesday as the United States reinstated a naval blockade of Iran and fighting again threatened the narrow passage used by roughly a fifth of the world’s oil trade. Markets are trying to price not only the possibility of interrupted supply, but also President Donald Trump’s proposed 20-per-cent charge on cargo moving through the strait.

For households, the consequences arrive most visibly at the gas pump. Higher crude prices raise the cost of gasoline, diesel, aviation, shipping and eventually food and manufactured goods. June inflation data brought temporary relief after energy prices had fallen, but the new Gulf escalation threatens to reverse that improvement. Trump has presented control of Hormuz as a strategic victory; consumers may experience it instead as another expensive surcharge on everyday life.