Donald Trump is heading to Beijing. The US president is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 14-15 for a summit that will center on the escalating Iran conflict, China’s economic ties with both Iran and Russia, and the trade tensions that never quite seem to go away between the world’s two largest economies.
The meeting was originally planned for March but got pushed back. The reason: US-Israel military strikes on Iran raised the temperature in the region to a level where diplomatic scheduling became, well, complicated.
Why China’s oil problem is everyone’s problem
China relies on the Strait of Hormuz for roughly 60% of its oil imports. That narrow waterway between Oman and Iran is the world’s most important oil chokepoint, and a US blockade there puts Beijing in an extraordinarily uncomfortable position.
Trump has signaled his intent to pressure China over its continued economic support for Iran and Russia.
The last time Trump and Xi sat down together was October 2025, during what was already a fragile period for US-China relations.
The trade backdrop
Trump has repeatedly emphasized his positive personal relationship with Xi, a framing he tends to deploy when negotiations are about to get difficult.
What this means for crypto and broader markets
Energy-related tokens have already seen short-term price movements tied to rising oil costs. If the summit produces any clarity on whether the Hormuz situation escalates or de-escalates, expect those moves to accelerate in whichever direction the news breaks.
For investors, the key variable isn’t the summit itself. It’s what happens to the Strait of Hormuz afterward. Sixty percent of China’s oil flowing through a single chokepoint that the US can influence is the kind of structural vulnerability that doesn’t get resolved in a two-day meeting.