The United States and China have agreed that Iran must not acquire nuclear weapons and that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open, President Donald Trump said on Friday as he concluded a three-day visit to Beijing.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after multiple rounds of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump claimed the US effectively controls the strategic waterway and said Iran has lost nearly $500 million per day over the past two and a half weeks because of a US naval blockade.
“I have a lot of respect for him (Xi). On Iran, he feels strongly that they can't have a nuclear weapon — said that very strongly — and he wants them to open up the strait. But as he said, they close it and you close them,” Trump told reporters.
“And it's true, we (US) control the strait, and they (Iran) have done no business in the last two and a half weeks, which is approximately $500 million a day,” he added.
Describing his discussions with Xi as a meeting between the leaders of “two great countries”, Trump said the talks produced significant trade agreements, including a deal for China to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft, with a commitment for an additional 750 planes in the future.
“It’s the two great countries. I call it the G-2. I think it’ll go down as a very important moment in history,” he told Fox News.
Trump also highlighted the importance of his relationship with Xi and suggested that China was unlikely to take aggressive action over Taiwan while he remained in office.
“It’s not a takeover. They just don't want to see this place — we'll call it a place because nobody knows how to define it — but they don't want to see it go independent,” Trump said.
“I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down. We're not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that,” he added.
The US president also said he had invited Xi to visit Washington in September.