Trump's Economic Campaign Against Iran Faces Major Hurdle: China

The Trump administration's new economic campaign against Iran has a major challenge ahead: China. Beijing is Tehran's biggest trading partner and oil buyer, and while the US aims to isolate Iran from its remaining economic partners, President Donald Trump must also maintain a fragile trade truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

According to Edgard Kagan, senior adviser and Freeman Chair in China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Trump administration's announcement was 'very careful' in avoiding specifics on how it would target China. This is likely due to the upcoming summit between Trump and Xi, where both sides will need to 'dance' around each other.

'The real question is whether there's room to push (the Chinese) to reduce what they're doing with Iran,' Kagan said. However, China is unlikely to comply fully, and will instead try to do the minimum without openly confronting the US. Beijing has already stated that its cooperation with Iran is 'within the framework of international law'.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, believes that if the US goal is to exert enough pressure on Iran to make concessions on the Strait of Hormuz, China can and will demonstrate its cooperation without severing ties with Iran. However, this would require China to cut back on its oil imports from Iran.