Trump hints delaying Xi summit if China won't cooperate on Hormuz Strait
President Donald Trump said he could delay a planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the two leaders set to meet in the coming weeks. He suggested pressuring China over its response to securing freedom of navigation through the Hormuz Strait, a critical oil chokepoint in the Middle East.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump asserted that China should help unlock the Hormuz Strait, arguing that China relies on oil shipments routed there. He claimed that about 90 percent of China’s oil passes through Hormuz and said Beijing’s cooperation was needed. He added that the two weeks remaining before the summit were too long and indicated he might postpone the meeting if an answer was not forthcoming.
Trump’s remarks framed the summit as leverage in a broader dispute with Beijing, suggesting that failing to obtain China’s cooperation on Hormuz could lead to the postponement of talks.
China offered a cautious response through its Foreign Ministry, with a spokesperson saying that diplomacy between the two countries is an indispensable strategic guide and that Beijing and Washington continue to discuss the visit. The ministry did not provide concrete concessions.
State media in China, including the Global Times, criticized the U.S. approach, calling the push to send warships to Hormuz a plan to shift risk onto other countries. An editorial warned that even a single attack on a vessel in Hormuz could trigger a broader, uncontrollable escalation, arguing the crisis stems from broader military conflict, not a lack of ships.
Trump also said he would seek the involvement of seven nations to escort ships through Hormuz, two more than previously stated, and implied that the decision to participate would be remembered when considering future deployments.
Beijing reiterated that all parties should halt military actions, presenting a unified position against escalations in the region.
Why this matters for the United States: Hormuz is a key global energy transit route. Any disruption there can affect crude prices and supply chains that feed into U.S. energy security, inflation, and markets. The episode highlights how U.S.-China tensions over trade, technology, and security translate into movements in global energy geopolitics and how a U.S.-China summit intersects with broader Middle East stability and energy markets.