Trump suggests he may delay China trip as he pressures Beijing for help with Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) 2026-03-16T04:36:34Z WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is suggesting he may delay his much-anticipated visit to China at the end of the month as he seeks to ramp up the pressure on Beijing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and calm oil prices that have soared during the Iran war . In an interview Sunday with the Financial Times, Trump said China’s reliance on oil from the Middle East means it ought to help with a new coalition he is trying to put together to get oil tanker traffic moving through the strait after Iran’s threats have throttled global flows of oil. Trump said “we’d like to know” before the trip whether Beijing will help. “We may delay,” Trump said in the interview. The uncertainty underscores just how much the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran have reshaped global politics in the past two weeks. Calling off the face-to-face visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping could have its own major economic consequences: Relations between Washington and Beijing have been fraught as both sides have threatened the other with steep tariffs over the past year. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said only that China and the U.S. have maintained communication on Trump’s visit. “Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-U.S. relations,” Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. Trump’s new comments came as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Monday in Paris for a new round of trade talks that were meant to pave the way for Trump’s Beijing trip. The U.S. and China have declared a truce that has prevented both sides from levying dueling tariffs , but the stakes remain high. In the early days of the Iran conflict, Trump had said U.S. navy vessels would escort oil

原文链接: AP News