The United States is turning up direct pressure on China ahead of the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing that Beijing should use its influence with Iran to stop closing the Strait of Hormuz. Rubio made the case at a White House briefing Tuesday, saying China should deliver a warning to Iran’s leadership that its actions are isolating Tehran and contributing to an escalation that is now affecting global shipping.
Rubio said Iran is “the bad guy in this” for what he described as the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz during a war that he said has been ongoing for roughly two months. He linked the pressure on China to what he described as an asymmetric impact from the shuttering of the waterway, arguing that China has been hit harder than the United States because Beijing’s export-driven economy depends on shipments through the strait. Rubio also pointed to China’s reliance on Middle East energy, saying China imports about half of its crude oil and almost one-third of its liquefied natural gas from the region.
Rubio’s remarks came as Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, visited China and met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to Xinhua. Rubio referenced that outreach by telling reporters he hoped Chinese officials would tell Araghchi what he said the United States wants Iran to accept—that Iran’s conduct in the strait is causing global isolation and that it is in China’s interest for the closures to stop.
As part of that push, Rubio also said the United States has been working to persuade China to abstain from vetoing a U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz and condemning Iran’s actions. A diplomat familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Washington has been engaging China on the effort and that the diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations at the council. The diplomat described the effort against the background of prior vetoes: China and Russia vetoed an earlier Hormuz resolution, with that decision framed by the countries as going too far and failing to condemn strikes by the United States and Israel that helped start the war.
The Trump administration’s outreach to Beijing also includes economic pressure through sanctions. Treasury announced on April 24 sanctions targeting a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil, according to the AP account. The sanctions, the reporting said, cut off the companies from the U.S. financial system and penalize entities that do business with them.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added another element to the messaging, telling Fox News that the threat of attacks from Iran had closed the strait and that the United States is now reopening it. In that interview, Bessent urged China to join the effort, saying he would “urge the Chinese to join us in supporting this international operation.” Trump’s own public comments, as described in the report, were framed more measuredly; he told reporters in the Oval Office earlier Tuesday that China hasn’t “challenged” him, while continuing to press Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program and open the strait.
The report also lays out how U.S. officials view China’s role in Iran policy, including longstanding concerns raised by Washington about support for Iran’s missile program and dual-use industrial components. In addition, the administration has cited prior assurances from Xi to refrain from providing weapons to Iran, and Trump has previously said U.S. forces intercepted a boat carrying a “gift” from China to Iran, though he did not provide further details in that account.
Rubio’s push on Hormuz was also paired with signaling about Taiwan as a likely topic for Trump and Xi. Rubio said Taiwan would likely be part of the conversation and argued that destabilizing developments in the Indo-Pacific are not in the interests of either country. He noted Trump’s December arms sale announcement for Taiwan—described in the AP report as a record-setting $11.1 billion—and said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a call with Rubio, urged the United States to “make the right choices” on Taiwan to safeguard “stability,” according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.