US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would decide in the coming days on lifting sanctions on Chinese oil companies that buy Iranian crude oil.
Earlier this year, the U.S. government considered cutting off revenue sources to Iran as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign imposed by President Trump, weeks before the war with Iran began.
In April, the United States sanctioned several independent refineries known as “teapots,” including China’s largest Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) refinery, after discovering they were importing Iranian crude oil.
Iranian crude oil is typically transported to China’s Teapot refineries using “shadow fleets” of tankers, which use deceptive tactics such as disabling tracking systems and falsifying registrations to avoid detection.
Many cargoes involve multiple transfers from shore to ship, sometimes using derelict vessels that are no longer operating in the Persian Gulf or the Straits of Malacca to obscure their origins.
After the president’s visit to China, Trump was asked Friday whether he would consider lifting sanctions.
“We’ve talked about it, and we’ll make a decision in the next few days,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
During President Trump’s high-profile visit, the United States and China made progress in strengthening bilateral relations. Leaders from both worlds discussed everything from the Iran war to trade. But talk of chip export controls was specifically left out of the negotiations, and U.S. access to key rare earth minerals remains uncertain.
President Trump told reporters on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping refused to answer directly when asked if the United States would defend Taiwan if it was attacked by China.
He also expressed frustration with Iran regarding progress toward a peace agreement. The president said the United States has agreed to halt Iran’s nuclear program for 20 years, but that commitment requires “certain guarantees.”
—CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.
