U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (17 March) announced that he is postponing a highly anticipated trip to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, citing the war with Iran as the main disruption to efforts to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The visit, originally scheduled for 31 March to 2 April and set to be the first of Trump’s second term, has been delayed. Trump said the trip will now take place in approximately five to six weeks.
“We are resetting the meeting … We’re working with China. They were fine with it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Beijing has not officially confirmed dates for the visit and does not normally publicise President Xi’s schedule far in advance.
The postponement adds uncertainty for markets and diplomacy alike. The war with Iran has driven oil prices higher, threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and heightened investor focus on energy security.
The delay will also sideline discussions intended to ease trade frictions between Washington and Beijing, covering issues including Taiwan, tariffs, computer chips, illegal drugs, rare earth minerals and agriculture.
Early preparations included talks this week in Paris between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, focusing on potential additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods - including poultry, beef and non-soybean row crops - as well as on managing trade and investment flows.
“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance to China–U.S. relations,” said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry.
Trump’s campaign in Iran has generated widespread military and economic consequences, consuming attention across his administration.
Iran has responded to joint U.S.–Israeli attacks by threatening vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes each day.
Trump has called on multiple nations, including China, to help secure shipping, but Beijing has not responded directly.
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Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Indonesia has reopened Jakarta's main airport and four others after volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau forced widespread flight cancellations, though fresh eruptions have kept authorities on alert.
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
Foreign direct investment in Georgia fell sharply in the second quarter of 2026, while China surged to become the country’s largest investor, highlighting Tbilisi’s deepening economic ties with Beijing as relations with the West remain strained.
North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in the northwest of the country and begun operating an expanded site at Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog has said.
Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 12 British nationals from entering the country, escalating a diplomatic row with London over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
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