President Donald Trump is toying with renaming one of the world’s most critical shipping routes after—who else—himself.
Speaking at an investor forum in Miami on Friday night, Trump casually referred to the Strait of Hormuz as the “Strait of Trump,” before quickly correcting himself, then insisting it wasn’t a slip.
“Excuse me, I’m so sorry. Such a terrible mistake,” he told the crowd.
“The Fake News will say, ‘He accidentally said.’ No, there’s no accidents with me.”
The remark drew laughs in the room, but behind the scenes, it’s not entirely a joke.
Trump has reportedly privately floated renaming the waterway the “Strait of America,” or even after himself, if the U.S. succeeds in wresting control of it from Iran, according to the New York Post.
One administration official reportedly told the Post that the U.S. is “taking the Strait back” and suggested that if America ends up policing it, “why should we call it Hormuz?”
It’s a big “if.”
The narrow passage, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply travels, has become a flashpoint in Trump’s escalating conflict with Iran.
Tehran has managed to disrupt shipping, sending gas and oil prices soaring and leaving the White House scrambling for options.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his frustration with allies who have balked at joining a U.S.-led naval push to reopen the route, while ramping up threats and insisting Iran is “begging” for a deal.
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
At the same time, his fixation on naming rights is raising eyebrows, even among his own allies.
“It’s getting tiresome and tacky,” a former administration official told the Post, warning it risks “tarnishing his legacy” ahead of the fall midterms.
Still, the idea tracks with Trump’s long-running instinct to slap his name on anything within reach.
He previously pushed to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico and backed efforts to attach his name to Washington’s Kennedy Center, both moves critics derided as vanity projects.
This leaves the world in the awkward position of watching a volatile geopolitical standoff play out alongside a potential naming exercise. Because in Trump’s orbit, even a global freight chokepoint might double as prime branding real estate.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
