00:00There's eight major choke points around the world, Tom.
00:03You just named two of them.
00:04Obviously, the straight-up Ramos is another one.
00:06If every country that was adjacent to these choke points could charge a fee,
00:11we'd have, what, eight or 16 countries that would be in charge of all of international commerce,
00:18and they could change the totals whenever they wanted.
00:20I don't think the international community should accept any of that.
00:25And it's been U.S. policy to not accept that, that the freedom of trade, freedom of commerce,
00:32and passage of international waterways has been one of the main missions of the United States Navy.
00:39So we should hopefully get this back to what it was, which was an open strait,
00:44meaning it was international and ships could freely transit without harassment, without tolls, without an environmental fee.
00:51And I think that should be the ultimate end state for the U.S. and the rest of the world
00:55for when it comes to the straight-up Ramos.
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