Trump said he didn't ask Xi 'for any favors' on Iran |
Trump said he didn’t ask Xi ‘for any favors’ on Iran
President Trump said Friday that he did not ask “for any favors” from Chinese President Xi Jinping on Iran during their summit in Beijing this week.
“I’m not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We don’t need favors.”
The Trump administration has pressed China to take a more active role in helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, hoping it can use its influence and leverage as a main buyer of Iranian oil to pressure Tehran into loosening its grip on the waterway and making a deal to end hostilities.
China purchases roughly 90 percent of the oil exported from Iran, generating tens of billions in annual revenue for the regime, according to a March report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
About one-fifth of the world’s maritime oil trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz during peacetime, and an analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that Iran exported roughly 5.35 million barrels of crude oil and condensate........