Map source: Global Energy Infrastructure
(Bloomberg) – A White House official said that Chinese President Xi Jinping opposes efforts to charge a toll to navigate the Strait of Hormuz and is interested in purchasing more U.S. oil to reduce its dependence on the waterway in the future.
Xi made the comments during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, according to the official. China’s official readout of the meeting didn’t include energy in the list of topics the two presidents discussed, although it did say they talked about the Middle East.
China is the world’s largest importer of crude oil and natural gas, and the U.S. is the biggest producer of both. But shipments between the two countries ground to a halt last year after China imposed levies on the commodities in retaliation to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.
Global oil and gas supplies have come under severe pressure this year after Iran effectively shut Hormuz in response to U.S. and Israeli air strikes, and threatened to charge ships for passage. The closure of the strait has disrupted roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports, driving prices higher.
The US has since started its own blockade to prevent ships from exiting the Persian Gulf. Chinese oil supertanker Yuan Hua Hu appeared to pass through the blockade safely on Thursday.
Both Xi and Trump agreed the strait must remain open to support the free flow of energy, according to the U.S. official.
