U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he wants to postpone his planned early April trip to China by about a month due to the ongoing war with Iran.
“We’ve requested that we delay it a month or so,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump’s requested delay in his scheduled March 31-April 2 trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping underscores how the Iran war has upended his foreign policy agenda.
It also risks magnifying tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the Mideast crisis has joined trade and Taiwan among the spectrum of issues separating the world’s two biggest economies.
Trump’s Requests For Assistance With Iran
Iran has threatened to target vessels in the Strait of Hormuz after U.S.-Israeli strikes, even as its own shipping continues largely unaffected. Trump has urged countries, including China, to help secure the vital route, but the appeal has seen little response, with Beijing yet to react.
On Sunday, Trump told the Financial Times he might postpone the meeting if China did not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian crude oil has kept flowing through the Strait of Hormuz at a near-normal pace, a Reuters review of shipping data shows, though overall exports from the Middle East have dropped more than 60% since the war started. Most of Iran’s oil exports go to China, according to U.S. Energy Department data.
Traveling Abroad ‘May Not Be Optimal’ Amid War
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Trump may need to delay the trip due to coordinating the war effort – not because of the request that China help police the strait or because of any trade disagreements.
“The President wants to remain in DC to coordinate the war effort,” Bessent said. “Traveling abroad at a time like this may not be optimal.”
Beijing has not specified dates for Trump’s visit and normally does not detail Xi’s schedule far in advance.
Preparations for the meeting at its originally scheduled date are ongoing. On Monday, Bessent was in Paris for talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng aimed at teeing up trade and other agreements for Trump and Xi in Beijing.
(With inputs from Reuters)
