U.S. President Donald Trump warned he may postpone an upcoming trip to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping if China doesn’t agree to help defend the Strait of Hormuz. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to postpone an upcoming trip to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping if China doesn’t rally to his call for the main consumers of Gulf oil to help keep it flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that China had an obligation to provide assistance because 90% of its oil imports came from the Middle East, saying it was “only appropriate” for those countries that gain the most from the key shipping lane, which Iran has effectively closed, to help reopen it.
“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” said Trump, who indicated he expected a response before his summit with Xi, which is scheduled for March 31.
“We’d like to know before that. It’s a long time,” he added, saying that he “may delay” the visit in comments in which he also said it would be “very bad for the future of NATO” if European member nations failed to heed his call.
In a post on his Truth Social platform over the weekend, Trump said he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others “affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated.”
Official Chinese customs data show the Middle East, excluding Iran, actually accounted for less than half of China’s supply of oil in 2025 — mostly Saudi Arabia and Iraq — with Russia the largest single source, at just under a fifth of the total. However, that is complicated by the fact that sanctioned oil from Iran made up 11.5% of China’s imports.
When Britain confirmed on March 7 that it was preparing to deploy a carrier strike group to the region, Trump dismissed the gesture, saying the United States didn’t need it and accused British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of trying to “join wars after we’ve already won.”
China on Monday indicated it wanted to keep the three-day state visit on track, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stressing the importance “head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-U.S. relations.”
He said the parties were “maintaining communication regarding President Trump’s state visit to China.”
Lin called for an end to the hostilities in the Gulf and Iran, saying they had “disrupted international trade and energy shipping channels, undermining peace and stability in the region and the world.
“China calls on all parties to immediately cease military actions, prevent further escalation of tensions, and stop regional turbulence from inflicting greater damage on global economic development,” said Lin.
The state-run Global Times posited in an op-ed that Trump’s call for nations of the world to pitch in and help was actually an effort to get them to shoulder “risks of a war that Washington started and can’t finish?”
“Crowding a volatile waterway with warships from multiple nations doesn’t create security. It creates flashpoints. If any single vessel were struck, the consequences could rapidly spiral beyond anyone’s control. This is less international cooperation ‘to keep the Strait open and safe’ and more a carefully structured transfer of risk,” said the paper’s Sunday edition.
“Washington is asking who will send warships. Beijing is asking how to stop the war. The contrast in approach is sharp.”
Trump announced in November that he had accepted Xi’s invitation for a state visit after the pair agreed a truce in an escalating trade war in talks in South Korea in late October.
Trump’s Beijing visit is scheduled for March 31 through April 2.
Historic March moments through the years
Founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and tennis great Billie Jean King (C) smiles with representatives after speaking during an annual Women’s History Month event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX in Statuary Hall at the U.S .Capitol in Washington on March 9, 2022. Women’s History Month is celebrated every March. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
