President Donald Trump said Monday that he has asked the United States to postpone a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for Beijing by “a month or so” because of the ongoing war with Iran.
Trump was expected to visit China at the end of March to meet with Xi.
But when asked Monday afternoon in the Oval Office if that tour would still continue, Trump said, “I don’t know, we’re working on that right now.”
“We’re talking to China. We want to, but we want to be here because there’s a war. I think we have to be here,” Trump said.
“That’s why we asked for a delay of about a month,” Trump said. “I’m looking forward to being with him. We have a very good relationship.”
The comments came amid recent escalation in tensions between the two economic powers due to the Iran war and the United States announcing a new investigation into China’s trade practices.
President Trump claimed in his remarks Monday that the proposed delay was simply to allow him to stay in the United States to manage the war.
“And there are no tricks,” he added. “It’s very simple. There’s a war going on. I think it’s important that I’m here.”
Trump administration officials, including Trump himself, had earlier cabled that the Iran war could disrupt plans for a high-profile summit in China.
President Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil exports and an opponent of war, should help the United States break Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy corridor.
If we wait until the summit is over, it will be too late, he told the media.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later appeared to soften those comments, telling CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday morning that the summit’s rescheduling was for logistical reasons.
“The president has asked China to secure the Strait of Hormuz, so there will be no postponement,” said Bessent, who met with his Chinese counterpart in Paris last weekend.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt told Fox News late Monday morning that it was “very possible” the meeting could be postponed.
Days after the United States launched its first strikes against Iran in late February, analysts told CNBC they did not expect the fighting to derail the Trump-Xi summit in China. But they warned that the situation could change dramatically depending on how the war unfolds.
Last week, the Trump administration launched a new investigation into potentially unfair trade practices by China and more than a dozen other countries. These investigations were announced after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s largest tariffs, including high tariffs on imports from China.
