U.S. President Donald Trump is considering delaying a key meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping “by a month or so” as he struggles to manage the surging conflict with Iran.
The meeting was set to take place between March 31 and April 2, building on the two leaders’ previous face-to-face dialogue in South Korea last October.
On Monday, Trump pushed back against claims that he was considering postponing his visit to pressure China to intervene in the Strait of Hormuz, a key strategic waterway currently closed by Iran. “I’m looking forward to being with [Xi],” Trump told reporters at the White House on March 16. “[But] it’s very simple, we’ve got a war going on, and I think it’s important that I be here.”
Still, a delay to the meeting will mean that Trump and Xi will have to wait to discuss a number of factors dragging down the U.S.-China relationship, such as China’s continued export controls on critical minerals, the U.S.’s export controls on semiconductors, and U.S. demands that China buy more agricultural products.
Analysts say the U.S. President’s decision appears driven by the Iran conflict—and a need to manage a fast-escalating conflict and the fallout in energy markets—instead of an attempt to pressure China.
