President Donald Trump’s high-stakes trip to China this week comes as the ongoing conflict with Iran threatens to complicate already fragile relations between Washington and Beijing.
While trade is expected to dominate talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S. officials are also pressing China to use its leverage over Tehran as the situation escalates.
China remains the largest buyer of Iranian oil, giving Beijing significant influence at a time when Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz are impacting global energy markets. Attacks on commercial vessels in the area have raised concerns of broader disruptions.
Following Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s trip to China last week to meet his Chinese counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes Beijing will privately pressure Iran to stop threatening shipping routes.
“I hope the Chinese tell him what he needs to be told, and that is that what you are doing in the straits is causing you to be globally isolated,” Rubio said. “You’re the bad guy in this, you guys should not be blowing up ships, you should not be putting mines, you should not be trying to hold hostage the global economy.”
Rubio argued that China’s export-driven economy would ultimately suffer if Iran continues disrupting global trade routes and energy flows.
Despite those concerns, the Trump administration, which had long anticipated this meeting, is walking a fine line to keep the Iran conflict from derailing broader negotiations with Beijing.
Trump sought to downplay the issue shortly before departing for China on Tuesday, telling reporters he expects to discuss “a lot of things” with Xi but does not believe Iran will be a major topic of conversation. Trump added that he has Iran “very much under control.”
Still, administration officials have made clear that they do not want the Iran conflict to overshadow the broader relationship with Beijing.
“We don’t want this to be something that derails the broader relationship or the agreements that might come out of our meeting in Beijing,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said last week, according to the Associated Press.
Despite the effort, tensions over Iran have continued to escalate.
Last week, the State and Treasury Departments announced new sanctions targeting Chinese and Iranian entities accused of supporting Tehran’s military and weapons programs, including firms tied to satellite imagery used in strikes against U.S. forces during Operation Epic Fury.
The sanctions targeted companies connected to Iran’s procurement networks for drones and ballistic missile components, with U.S. officials warning the administration is determined to prevent Tehran from rebuilding military capabilities damaged during recent American and Israeli strikes.
Beijing condemned the move as “illegal unilateral pressure” and activated a blocking statute that bars Chinese entities from complying with certain foreign sanctions.
During Araghchi’s trip to Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended Iran’s right to maintain a civilian nuclear energy program. The Trump administration believes Iran has for years sought to pursue a nuclear weapon under the camouflage of a civilian nuclear program.
The economic stakes for Beijing are significant. Roughly 45% to 50% of China’s crude oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and more than half of China’s crude oil and nearly one-third of its liquefied natural gas imports came from the Middle East in 2025, according to Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
Official Chinese government data shows approximately 42% of China’s crude imports come from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. Analysts estimate that another 12% comes from Iran, despite Beijing officially reporting no Iranian imports since 2022, as much of the oil travels through Iran’s sanctioned “dark fleet,” which uses disguised shipping methods and falsified tracking data to evade U.S. sanctions.
Reports that China was considering selling surface-to-air missiles to Iran also raised alarm in Washington because the systems could potentially threaten U.S. helicopters and aircraft operating over Iranian territory. Beijing denied the reports and warned it would respond to additional U.S. penalties.
The United States has increasingly targeted those networks as part of a broader effort to economically isolate Tehran both through sanctions and the blockade. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly threatened secondary sanctions on Chinese banks tied to Iranian accounts.
Despite those pressures, analysts say China still has substantial short-term energy reserves that could help cushion disruptions in Gulf shipping routes. According to geospatial analytics firm Kayrros, China currently has roughly 1.39 billion barrels of oil in storage — enough to cover around 120 days of net crude imports at current levels.
Still, experts warn that those reserves are not a long-term solution if the conflict intensifies or the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted. Smaller Chinese “teapot refineries,” many of which rely heavily on discounted Iranian crude, could face pressure first because of thin profit margins and dependence on cheap imports.
The conflict has also complicated China’s broader relationships throughout the Middle East.
After the United States and Israel launched strikes during Operation Epic Fury, Iran responded with rocket and drone attacks targeting multiple countries, including Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — many of the same countries Beijing relies on for trade and energy imports.
In Kuwait, officials recently accused an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps team of attacking Bubiyan Island, where China is helping fund the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project. Kuwaiti officials said the armed group clashed with security personnel before being apprehended, leaving one Kuwaiti servicemember injured. Kuwait condemned the incident as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty and warned that it reserved the right to self-defense.
That has left China attempting to balance ties with both Tehran and its regional rivals while avoiding becoming too publicly involved in ceasefire negotiations. Analysts say Beijing has deliberately kept a relatively low diplomatic profile in order to avoid blame if negotiations collapse.
Trump’s meetings in Beijing are now expected to test whether China is willing to use its economic leverage over Tehran, or whether the war with Iran is becoming another major flashpoint in the growing rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
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