U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is delaying his planned diplomatic trip to China by “about five or six weeks,” rather than at the end of the month, amid complications from the ongoing war with Iran.
Speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the Oval Office, Trump said he was “resetting” his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping but did not elaborate on whether a specific date had been set. A day earlier, Trump told reporters he had requested the delay because of the war in the Middle East.
“I think it’s important that I be here,” he said. “And so it could be that we delay a little bit — not much.”
Trump’s comments came after representatives from Washington and Beijing opened economic and trade discussions in Paris earlier this week, paving the way for what could be his first in-person meeting with Xi since the two met in South Korea last year and agreed to a one-year truce in their trade war. No U.S. president has visited China since Trump did in 2017 during his first term in office.
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While trade is expected to be the primary focus for Chinese and U.S. officials, the upcoming meeting will likely be overshadowed by the ongoing war in Iran. Since the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury earlier this month, Iran has restricted the flow of oil and other goods through the Strait of Hormuz, affecting nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Trump has urged other countries impacted by Iran’s actions — including China — to deploy naval forces to the Middle East and join the U.S. in “policing” shipping. But on Tuesday, he appeared to reverse that plea, declaring that the U.S. does “NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE.”
