President Trump said Friday he did not ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil corridor that Tehran blockaded in early March after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeted the Islamic republic.
“When you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying home from Beijing. “I don’t need favors.”
Trump said Xi will act on his own because China’s economic interests demand it. China imports roughly 40% of its energy through the strait, which Iran has effectively shut to Western-linked ships since the conflict began. The U.S., by contrast, is energy independent and does not rely on the waterway.
“I think, automatically, he’d like to see it opened up,” Trump said, as per The Washington Times. “He gets about 40% of his energy, or his oil, from the strait. We get none. We don’t need it.”
Hundreds of commercial vessels and millions of barrels of oil remain stranded in the Persian Gulf. The blockade has rattled global energy markets and strained shipping routes across Europe and Asia.
Iran has used the chokepoint as leverage following the U.S.-Israeli strikes. European allies have publicly called for the strait’s reopening but have hesitated to commit military assets, with several grumbling privately about a lack of coordination from Washington before the strikes were launched.
Trump addressed the strait directly during bilateral talks with Xi in Beijing, saying the two leaders are broadly aligned. “We did discuss Iran. We feel very similar about how we want it to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open,” Trump said before departing the Chinese capital.
The White House said Thursday that both leaders had concurred on the need to reopen the waterway. China’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged the conflict was straining global trade. “There is no point in continuing this conflict, which should not have happened in the first place,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Friday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he spoke with Trump by phone as the president flew home from Beijing. “We agree: Iran must come to the negotiating table now. It must open the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons,” Merz wrote on X.
Trump’s three-day stop in Beijing produced no formal breakthroughs. He claimed China had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft, but neither the White House nor Beijing confirmed the deal. China’s Foreign Ministry said both countries could promote “development and revitalization by strengthening cooperation.”
