President Donald Trump’s frustration over the world’s reluctance to join his war with Iran has found a new target: China.
The president, 79, is threatening to delay his scheduled trip to the country if Chinese leader Xi Jinping doesn’t provide the United States with assistance in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, according to comments he made in an interview with Financial Times.
The waterway is currently being blockaded by Iran, leaving roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply at a standstill and rapidly driving up the prices of gas and aviation fuel in America.
Trump told the outlet that there is a “long time” until his Beijing summit, which is scheduled for March 31 to April 2, and that Washington wanted clarity on whether Xi would deploy ships to the narrow waterway vital to China’s energy flows.
“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in the interview.
The trip would be Trump’s first visit to China in nine years and comes after a year of ups and downs between him and Xi, including a trade war that sent tariffs skyrocketing to triple-digit levels.
Trump’s officials, however, were not as candid as he was. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that a potential delay in the summit could be due to logistics rather than spite.
“If the meetings are delayed, it wouldn’t be delayed because the president demanded that China police the Strait of Hormuz,” Bessent said in an interview with CNBC in Paris, where he had met with his Chinese counterpart to plan the summit.
He added, “If the meeting, for some reason, is rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed a similar sentiment on Fox News on Monday morning, suggesting the summit could be rescheduled, but not canceled.
“The president’s utmost responsibility right now as commander in chief is to ensure the continued success of Operation Epic Fury, as he’s doing a 24/7 here at the White House and here at home,” she said.
Leavitt also called on NATO allies to “do the right thing” by rushing to Trump’s aid, which has yet to materialize.
The U.S.’s top military commander in the Middle East vowed to “deplete Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz,” in a video posted to X on Monday. Meanwhile, China has yet to comment publicly on Trump’s threat.
Closer allies of the United States have also turned their backs on the president’s pleas for assistance following the U.S. and Israel’s surprise attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
“Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat,” he continued, in what appeared to be a veiled plea for help.
French Response, the official X account of the French government’s foreign office, was quick to clarify that it would not be sending the ships Trump requested.
“No. The [French] aircraft carrier strike group remains in the Eastern Mediterranean. France’s posture is unchanged: Defensive. Protective,” the diplomatic outlet wrote. “Stop the scaremongering.”
Even the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense has swerved any pledge of assistance to the United States and said it is discussing “a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.”
The Financial Times previously reported that both France and Italy were seeking to negotiate a deal to guarantee safe passage of their ships through the Strait, though Italy has since denied the report.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
