Chinese president arrives in US with new energy leverage as war rattles global markets

Chinese president arrives in US with new energy leverage as war rattles global markets The Iran war has boosted China’s clean energy exports and strengthened its leverage in global energy markets, giving China little incentive to yield to President Donald Trump’s demands. President Donald Trump talks with China's President Xi Jinping at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound May 15 in Beijing. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP President Donald Trump plans to press Chinese President Xi Jinping on his energy posture with Iran when the leaders meet Wednesday in Washington. But there’s little reason for China to yield — especially since the war has helped strengthen its hand as an emerging global energy superpower.

The war in Iran has spiked global prices for energy and other commodities and created a political albatross around the neck of both Trump and his party. The price of a global barrel of oil stood at about $100 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, China has been exporting its clean energy technologies to other vulnerable countries, leveraging its massive oil stockpiles and presenting itself as a more stable geopolitical partner.

I don’t think Xi is going to feel any pressure, whatsoever, to respond to any U.S. pleas.” Trump and his administration will stress during Xi’s visit that “continuing to do business with Iran and the regime is unacceptable, and there will be consequences for it,” a senior White House official said. But energy executives and analysts said they aren’t expecting much substance to come from the meeting, despite the impact the war is having on both countries’ economies. The war appears to be consuming much of the attention from White House officials who might otherwise have focused on the Xi visit, said Philip Luck, an international business analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank and a former Biden administration State Department official.

The meeting comes as Trump has throttled two sources of cheap oil imported by China. China was the primary buyer of both Iranian and Venezuelan crude oil, both of which Trump has claimed the U.S. could take possession of as a result of his military actions. On Tuesday, Trump told global leaders gathered at the United Nations that the U.S. now has a primary claim to Venezuela’s oil.

Even as the Trump administration is making it more expensive for Beijing to acquire oil, it hopes to pry China away from Russia as a source of its oil and gas and to bring it back to the U.S. market. China all but stopped buying natural gas directly from the United States since Trump slapped tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods last year. China also stopped buying U.S. crude oil, though its purchases of fuel from U.S. refiners have rebounded in recent months.

The Trump administration had promised that the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports would help it strong-arm Beijing into relaxing its hold on the supplies of critical minerals and persuade Chinese companies to buy more U.S. oil and natural gas. But that hasn’t happened so far — and there’s little hope that this week’s talks will unlock any progress, said one LNG industry executive granted anonymity to speak candidly. China’s rising energy clout comes despite the fact that it is by far the world’s biggest oil importer.