"A month or so": Trump postpones his trip to China because of the war with Iran

President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration has asked to postpone his planned trip to China by about a month, as he pointed to the ongoing war with Iran as the main reason for the delay. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump indicated thathe was unsure whether he would still travel to Beijing later this month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, even though their meeting was scheduled. "I’d love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel. And so we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so. It’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here, so it could be that we delay a little bit, not much," Trump said.

The Republican leader's remarks came just hours after several officials in his administration suggested the trip could be postponed. One of them was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said the visit could be rescheduled, but stressed that any delay was not intended to pressure Beijing to act on the Strait of Hormuz. Bessent's comments appeared to refer to a Financial Times report, which noted that Trump had expressed interest in China helping to reopen this vital sea corridor and that he wanted clarity on that issue ahead of the planned summit.

Similarly, Energy Secretary Chris Wright had commented during an interview with NBC media that he expected China to act as a "constructive partner". However, a Chinese Embassy spokesman told CNN that Beijing's priority is for hostilities to cease, without directly addressing Trump's call for involvement.

China, the world's largest energy importer and partner of Iran's ruling Islamic theocracy, has criticized recent U.S. and Israeli attacks, saying they "violate international law," while defending Tehran's sovereignty.