There are moments when global politics outpaces itself. And then there are moments like this one - when the United States, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, calls on China to prevent Iran from blocking the Strait of Hormuz. China, mind you - the very authoritarian regime that Washington, just a few weeks ago, painted alternately as an economic arch-enemy, human rights violator, or communist threat. Now, this very China is supposed, in Trump’s view, to step in as a diplomatic bouncer at the bottleneck of the global oil supply - to keep America’s gas prices from rising further and the West from sliding into a new economic crisis. In recent weeks, Washington has dropped bunker busters on Iranian nuclear facilities, helped ignite the wildfire in the Middle East - and is now calling on Beijing for help. Like an arsonist hoping for the neighbor’s expertise during the firefighting effort because his own hose has run dry.
But this strategy reveals more than just geopolitical confusion - it shows how deeply the Trump administration pursues its foreign policy with economic tunnel vision. The only thing that matters is the price of oil. Everything that gets in the way is met with threats, bombs, or tweets. The complex power dynamics in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of global oil trade flows, become nothing more than the backdrop for populist outrage management. That China has its own interests in the region - such as multibillion-dollar investments in Iran and a dependency on that very oil flowing through the strait - is ignored. And at the same time, it feels almost cynical that Trump, of all people - who scrapped the Paris Climate Agreement, dismantled environmental regulations, and opened up new offshore oil fields - is now sounding the alarm when oil flows are at risk. The president who once promised to make America energy independent now exposes the superpower’s full dependence on fossil pathways controlled by other countries.
And so the appeal to China reveals more than just diplomatic pragmatism. It is a reflection of the disoriented foreign policy of a government that contradicts itself, alienates its allies, and turns to its adversaries for help. Anyone who believes strength lies in threats, bombings, and going it alone will eventually end up where power turns into powerlessness - at the negotiating table, with those previously declared enemies. In the midst of this farce, only one bitter realization remains: America’s foreign policy under Trump is not an orchestrated chess game but an improvised dance on a mined oil carpet - with music that keeps speeding up. And while the world struggles for de-escalation, the White House hopes that China will tame the chaos that Washington itself helped unleash.
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