Trump-Xi Summit To Weigh US Energy Sales Amid Hormuz Crisis

On the other hand, Trump said China is welcome to buy energy from the US. In a media briefing at the White House on May 5, he described Xi as a“tremendous guy” and said he got along well with Xi.

“We've offered that if he wants to send the ships to the US,” Trump said.“I made a statement: send your ships to Texas. It's not that much further. Send your ships to Louisiana. Send your ships to Alaska. Alaska is actually very close to a lot of the Asian countries; people don't realize it.”

Trump added that the US was making“tremendous” deals with South Korea and Japan, which lost their main source of oil supply due to transportation disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. He also said that although China had 60% of its imported oil from the Strait of Hormuz, Xi has been“very respectful” as the strait's logistics have affected by the war in Iran.

During a regular briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about Trump's suggestion that Beijing should buy American oil rather than Iranian oil. Lin declined to give a direct answer and referred the media to the competent authorities.

Chinese commentators have mixed views on the matter. Some say the disruption in the Middle East has strengthened the case for China to diversify oil and gas supplies, including from the US.

A Hunan-based columnist using the pen name Xu Sanlang says China suspended most US energy imports as a countermeasure after Trump returned to the White House in early 2025. He says China's last crude oil purchase from the US was in February 2025, while LNG imports stopped after December 2024.

Citing Chinese customs data, Xu says China imported about US$325 billion worth of crude oil in 2024, of which US crude accounted for only 1.8%, or about US$6 billion. The figure basically dropped to zero in 2025.

However, citing Kpler data, he says that nearly 600,000 barrels per day of US crude oil were loaded onto tankers bound for China in April 2026. He says the main reason was Iran's move to close the Strait of Hormuz and its strikes on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

“Faced with this situation, the most rational response is to diversify procurement sources,” Xu writes.“Although the US is China's trade rival, it does have sufficient energy supplies. China's purchases of US energy were previously interrupted by a tariff war in 2025, but the situation has since changed. Supply security is more important than anything else.”

“Trump has long asked China to buy more American agricultural products, aircraft and energy products but when the trade war was intense China could ignore those demands,” he adds.“Now the Middle East conflicts and global supply-chain tensions have made Trump's energy-purchase request easier for Beijing to accept.”

He stresses that resuming US energy purchases would meet China's own supply security needs while giving Trump some“face” during his visit to Beijing.“It kills two birds with one stone,” he said.“It protects energy security while creating favorable conditions for China-US negotiations.”

Other commentators argue that Beijing should not deepen its reliance on US energy, as Washington has illegitimately used force to control oil exports from Chinese allies, including Venezuela and Iran.

A Henan-based writer says Trump claimed earlier this month that the US was receiving“hundreds of millions of barrels of oil” from Venezuela and sending the crude to Houston for refining.

“Four months ago, US forces raided Caracas and took away Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife,” he writes.“How can Trump now say that the US and Venezuela are partners?”

The writer says the US Treasury Department revoked Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela on March 1 and issued a new general license that broadly authorizes US companies to do business with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela.

“This is not normal international trade. This is naked plunder,” he says.