Trump says U.S. asked China to delay Xi meeting 'a month or so' due to Iran war

<p>President <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump/">Donald Trump</a> said Monday that the U.S. has asked to delay his planned <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/trump-iran-war-china-trade-tariffs.html">meeting with Chinese President</a> <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/xi-jinping/">Xi Jinping</a> in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/bessent-trump-xi-china-iran-war.html">Beijing</a> by "a month or so" due to the ongoing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/strait-of-hormuz-closure-generic-drug-prescriptions.html">war</a> with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/16/us-is-allowing-iranian-tankers-through-strait-of-hormuz-says-bessent.html">Iran</a>.</p>
<p>Trump was expected to travel to China at the end of March for the meeting with Xi.</p>
<p>But when asked in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon if that trip was still on, Trump said, "I don't know, we're working on that right now."</p>
<p>"We're speaking to China. I'd love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel," Trump said.</p>
<p>"And so, we've requested that we delay it a month or so," Trump said. "I'm looking forward to being with him. We have a very good relationship."</p>
<p>The comments came as tensions between the two economic superpowers have recently appeared to ratchet up, spurred by the Iran war and the U.S. announcing a new investigation into Chinese trade practices.</p>
<p>Trump insisted in Monday's remarks that the proposed delay was solely about him being in the U.S. to manage the war.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>Top Trump administration officials, including Trump himself, had earlier telegraphed that the Iran war could disrupt plans for the high-profile summit in China.</p>
<p>Trump told the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/1ca6d121-760b-4ec5-b6ad-514fdaa94873?shareType=nongift">Financial Times</a> on Sunday that China — a top buyer of Iranian oil exports that has come out against the war — should help the U.S. break Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy corridor.</p>
<p>Waiting to do so until after the summit would be too late, he told the outlet.</p>
<p>Treasury Scott Bessent later appeared to soften those remarks, telling CNBC's "<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/squawk-box-us/">Squawk Box</a>" on Monday morning that any rescheduling of the summit would be for logistical reasons. </p>
<p>"It wouldn't be delayed because the president demanded that China police the Strait of Hormuz," said Bessent, who had met with his Chinese counterparts in Paris over the weekend.</p>
<p>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News later Monday morning that it's "quite possible" that the meeting could be delayed.</p>
<p>Days after the U.S. launched its first attacks against Iran in late February, analysts told CNBC that they did not expect the fighting would derail the Trump-Xi summit in China. But they cautioned that the circumstances could shift dramatically depending on how the war evolves.</p>
<p>Last week, the Trump administration launched <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/13/us-section-301-probe-trade-trump-labor-practices.html">new investigations </a>into potentially unfair trade practices by China and more than a dozen other countries. Those probes were announced after the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/supreme-court-trump-tariffs-ruling.html">Supreme Court</a> struck down Trump's biggest tariffs, which included major levies he had imposed on imports from China.</p>