Trump seeks to delay meeting with China’s Xi by ‘month or so’ amid Iran war

googleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoUnited States President Donald Trump says he is seeking to delay a highly anticipated trip to China in early April by about a month because of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

“We’ve requested that we delay it a month ⁠or so,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

“There’s no tricks to it either,” he added. “It’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here.”

China’s embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s requested delay in his scheduled March 31-April 2 trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping underscores how the Iran war has upended his foreign policy agenda.

It also risks magnifying tensions ⁠between Washington and Beijing, as the war on Iran has joined trade and Taiwan as among the spectrum of issues separating the world’s two biggest economies.

“The president looks forward to visiting China,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

“The dates may be moved. As commander-in-chief, it’s his number-one priority right now to ensure the continued success of this Operation Epic Fury. So we’ll keep you posted on the dates as soon as we can.”

Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on February 28, killing more than 1,200 people, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

On Sunday, Trump told The Financial Times he might postpone the meeting if China does not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says is closed to US and Israeli-linked vessels.

Trump has called on numerous nations, including China, to help ships safely cross the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil usually transits. Trump’s request has been largely rebuffed so far. China, which imported about 12 million barrels of oil per day in the first two months of 2026, the most in the world, has not directly responded to his request.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said earlier on Monday that Trump may need to delay the trip due to coordinating the war effort, not because of China’s unresponsiveness to Trump’s request or because ⁠of any trade disagreements.

“The president wants to remain in DC to coordinate the war effort,” Bessent said. “Traveling abroad at a time like this may not be optimal.”

Bessent made the comments from Paris, where he had travelled for trade negotiations with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

In the talks, which began on Sunday, the Chinese showed openness to potential additional purchases of US agricultural goods, including poultry, beef and non-soya bean row crops, one source said before ‌the second day of meetings.

They also discussed the flow of rare earth minerals, largely controlled by China, and new approaches to managing trade and investment between the countries.