Trump side-stepped diplomacy on his way to war in Iran. Now, he's asking China and others for help

"We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the strait far more than ours ... we want them to come and help us with the strait," Trump said at the White House on Monday, listing Japan, China, South Korea and several countries in Europe as examples. Trump has argued that the shipping channel is not something the United States needs because of its own access to oil.

It's the type of bullying to action that has secured key foreign policy wins for the Republican president in his second term, like prompting nearly all NATO countries to up their defense spending last year after he spent years accusing allies of freeloading off American largess, and using tariffs to extract investments and concessions from trade partners.

But with oil prices soaring and the Middle East rattled by violence, there's little inclination from other countries to heed Trump's call.

China is noncommittal. France is a maybe on escorting ships, when "circumstances permit." Britain is unlikely to dispatch a warship.

In Trump's view, this lack of appetite for helping to secure the strait confirms his suspicions about the benefits of working with other countries, because "if we ever needed help, they won't be there for us."

"I've always felt that was a weakness of NATO," Trump said Monday. "We were going to protect them, but I always said when in need, they won't protect us."

Yet not long after, Trump insisted the U.S. didn't need help from anybody because "we're the strongest nation in the world."

White House: Trump 'right' to demand help with Strait of Hormuz

Nonetheless, the pressure campaign from the White House is continuing.

Trump's top spokeswoman, when asked why other nations that were neither consulted nor involved should put their troops in danger to secure the Strait of Hormuz, argued that other countries were benefiting directly from Trump's attempt to disarm the Iranian regime.

"This is something not just the United States but the entire Western world has agreed with for many, many years," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

Separately, Trump signaled in a Sunday interview with the Financial Times that "we'd like to know" before he leaves for a late-March summit in Beijing whether China will help secure the strait because of its reliance on Middle Eastern oil, adding: "We may delay."

Yet calling off the face-to-face visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping could have its own major economic consequences as the relations between the world's two biggest economies remain fraught over tariffs and other issues. In a CNBC interview Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said any delay would not be due to disputes over the strait and explicitly urged investors not to react negatively should Trump put off his trip.

"If the meeting for some reason is rescheduled, it would be rescheduled because of logistics," Bessent said from Paris, where he was meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for a new round of trade talks that were meant to pave the way for the trip.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing, Lin Jian, did not respond directly to questions about Trump's call for outside help in the strait. He noted the impact on goods and energy trade and repeated his government's call for an end to the fighting.

No takers so far on Trump's call for a coalition to secure Hormuz

In the early days of the Iran conflict, Trump had said U.S. Navy vessels would escort oil tankers through the strait, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and downplayed the threat posed by Iran. But as oil prices soared, he and his administration have been forced to consider new options — including the idea, broached this weekend, for other countries to join the push with their own warships.

Trump told reporters that he has asked about seven countries to participate in a coalition that would help oil tankers navigate the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says is only cut off for the United States, Israel and their allies.

In addition to China, Japan and South Korea, Trump has made appeals for help to Britain and France.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday that Britain is working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but "will not be drawn into the wider war."

Britain is discussing with the U.S. and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility of using mine-hunting drones that the U.K. has in the region, Starmer said. But he signaled the U.K. is unlikely to dispatch a warship.

Other countries have similarly been resistant to get involved.

Australia's Transport Minister Catherine King told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday that "we won't be sending a ship to the Strait of Hormuz," although she wasn't aware of such a request from the U.S.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Brussels on Monday that while Italy backs reinforcing EU naval missions in the Red Sea, "I don't think these missions can be expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz."

Trump administration downplays oil price spikes

War in Iran has sent the price of oil skyrocketing, which has raised the price Americans pay at the pump, just as the midterm election season begins to heat up.

Bessent downplayed the war's impact on oil prices and accused the media of "trying to make it into some crisis that it's not." Echoing Trump, the secretary insisted prices would come down after the conflict ends.

"I don't know how many weeks it will be, but on the other side of this, the world will be safer, and we will be better supplied," Bessent said on CNBC.

China, which faces its own economic pressures, recently lowered its 2026 target for growth slightly to 4.5% to 5%, its slowest projected growth since 1991, meaning prolonged disruptions in the strait could have long-term impacts for Beijing as well.

At the White House on Monday, Trump was asked what his aides have told him about how long gas prices will remain high.

Trump dismissed the question, showing once again that he ultimately relies on his own instincts.

"I don't need advisers to tell me that," he said. "I know what it is."