{"id":333196,"date":"2026-03-17T01:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/333196\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:52:11","slug":"trump-side-stepped-diplomacy-on-way-to-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/333196\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump side-stepped diplomacy on way to war"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump relied on his gut and largely side-stepped diplomatic coordination as he made the decision to launch strikes on Iran with Israel<\/a>. But now with the war’s economic and geopolitical consequences unfurling rapidly, he’s cajoling allies and other global powers to help mop up the mess.<\/p>\n

Trump says he’s asked roughly a half-dozen other countries<\/a> to send warships to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, a consequential waterway through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil flows. So far, none has committed. Trump even indicated he would use his long-planned trip to China to pressure Beijing to help with a new coalition meant to get oil tanker traffic moving through the strait \u2014 a notion that his treasury secretary later downplayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the strait far more than ours … we want them to come and help us with the strait,\u201d Trump said at the White House on Monday (local time), listing Japan, China, South Korea and several countries in Europe as examples. Trump has argued that the shipping channel is not something the United States needs because of its own access to oil.<\/p>\n

It’s the type of bullying to action that has secured key foreign policy wins for the Republican president in his second term, like prompting nearly all NATO countries to up their defence spending last year after he spent years accusing allies of freeloading off American largess, and using tariffs to extract investments and concessions from trade partners.<\/p>\n

But with oil prices soaring<\/a> and the Middle East rattled by violence, there’s little inclination<\/a> from other countries to heed Trump’s call.<\/p>\n

China is noncommittal. France is a maybe on escorting ships, when \u201ccircumstances permit\u201d. Britain is unlikely to dispatch a warship.<\/p>\n

In Trump’s view, this lack of appetite for helping to secure the strait confirms his suspicions about the benefits of working with other countries, because \u201cif we ever needed help, they won’t be there for us\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that was a weakness of NATO,\u201d Trump said Monday (local time). \u201cWe were going to protect them, but I always said when in need, they won\u2019t protect us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet not long after, Trump insisted the US didn’t need help from anybody because \u201cwe’re the strongest nation in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

White House: Trump ‘right’ to demand help with Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the pressure campaign from the White House is continuing.<\/p>\n

Trump’s top spokeswoman, when asked why other nations that were neither consulted nor involved should put their troops in danger to secure the Strait of Hormuz, argued that other countries were benefiting directly from Trump’s attempt to disarm the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something not just the United States but the entire Western world has agreed with for many, many years,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.<\/p>\n

Separately, Trump signalled in a Sunday (local time) interview with the Financial Times that \u201cwe’d like to know\u201d before he leaves for a late-March summit in Beijing whether China will help secure the strait because of its reliance on Middle Eastern oil, adding: \u201cWe may delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an afternoon event in the Oval Office, Trump revealed that he has asked China to delay the trip \u201ca month or so\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war … I have to be here, I feel,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Yet calling off the face-to-face visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping could have its own major economic consequences as the relations between the world’s two biggest economies remain fraught over tariffs and other issues. In a CNBC interview, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said any delay would not be due to disputes over the strait and explicitly urged investors not to react negatively should Trump put off his trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the meeting for some reason is rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics,\u201d Bessent said from Paris, where he was meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for a new round of trade talks that were meant to pave the way for the trip.<\/p>\n

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing, Lin Jian, did not respond directly to questions about Trump\u2019s call for outside help in the strait. He noted the impact on goods and energy trade and repeated his government\u2019s call for an end to the fighting.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a winter boost for hospital staffing, and the star who went from the Oscars to a burger joint. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

No takers so far on Trump’s call for a coalition to secure Hormuz<\/p>\n

In the early days of the Iran conflict, Trump had said US Navy vessels would escort oil tankers through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and downplayed the threat posed by Iran. But as oil prices soared, he and his administration have been forced to consider new options \u2014 including the idea, broached this weekend, for other countries to join the push with their own warships.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters that he has asked about seven countries to participate in a coalition that would help oil tankers navigate the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says is only cut off for the United States, Israel and their allies.<\/p>\n

In addition to China, Japan and South Korea, Trump has made appeals for help to Britain and France.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain is working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but \u201cwill not be drawn into the wider war\u201d.<\/p>\n

Britain is discussing with the US and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility of using mine-hunting drones that the UK has in the region, Starmer said. But he signaled the UK is unlikely to dispatch a warship.<\/p>\n

Other countries have similarly been resistant to get involved.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Transport Minister Catherine King told Australian Broadcasting Corp that \u201cwe won\u2019t be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d although she wasn\u2019t aware of such a request from the US.<\/p>\n

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Brussels that while Italy backs reinforcing EU naval missions in the Red Sea, \u201cI don\u2019t think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump administration downplays oil price spikes<\/p>\n

War in Iran has sent the price of oil skyrocketing, which has raised the price Americans pay at the pump, just as the midterm election season begins to heat up.<\/p>\n

Bessent downplayed the war’s impact on oil prices and accused the media of \u201ctrying to make it into some crisis that it\u2019s not\u201d. Echoing Trump, the secretary insisted prices would come down after the conflict ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how many weeks it will be, but on the other side of this, the world will be safer, and we will be better supplied,\u201d Bessent said on CNBC.<\/p>\n

China, which faces its own economic pressures, recently lowered its 2026 target for growth slightly to 4.5% to 5%, its slowest projected growth since 1991, meaning prolonged disruptions in the strait could have long-term impacts for Beijing as well.<\/p>\n

At the White House, Trump was asked what his aides have told him about how long gas prices will remain high.<\/p>\n

Trump dismissed the question, showing once again that he ultimately relies on his own instincts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need advisers to tell me that,\u201d he said. “I know what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump relied on his gut and largely side-stepped diplomatic coordination as he made the decision to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-333196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}