Trump threatens NATO, warns China: Seeks help in unblocking Strait of Hormuz

(Patria) - US President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to NATO, saying the alliance faces a "very bad" future if American allies do not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

In an interview published on Sunday, the US president called on European nations to join his military efforts in Iran and announced that he might postpone a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping until he receives Beijing's help, writes the Financial Times.

"It is only appropriate that those who benefit from the strait help ensure that nothing bad happens there," Trump said, emphasizing that Europe and China, unlike the US, are heavily dependent on oil from the Gulf.

"If there is no response or if it is negative, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO," he added.

Trump's comments, made in an eight-minute phone call, came a day after he appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom to join "joint efforts" to open the key maritime point through which a fifth of the world's oil passes.

Iran has effectively closed the strait after the US and Israel launched a war on February 28, raising fears of a new price shock for the global economy. US attempts to unblock it have been largely unsuccessful, and international oil prices reached $106 a barrel on Sunday evening, an increase of about 45 percent since the start of the war.

Despite the warning, Trump expressed pessimism that allies would heed his pleas.

"We have something called NATO," said Trump, who has often criticized the alliance. "We have been very benevolent. We didn't have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us... But we helped them. Now we'll see if they help us. Because I've been saying for a long time that we'll be there for them, but they won't be there for us. And I'm not sure they would be."

When asked to clarify what kind of help he was seeking, Trump replied: "Whatever it takes." He added that allies should send minesweepers, which Europe has significantly more of than the US.

He also requested "people to eliminate some bad actors along the Iranian coast," alluding to the need for European commandos or other military assistance to remove Iranians who are creating "disruptions" in the Gulf with drones and naval mines.

"They have nothing left but to create small problems in the strait, but these people are beneficiaries and should help us monitor it. We will help them. But they should also be there. It takes a lot of people to watch a few."

Trump said he also expects China's help in unblocking the strait before traveling to Beijing later this month for a summit with Xi Jinping, which would be his first visit to China in his second term.

"I think China should also help because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the strait," Trump said.

He stressed that waiting until the summit would be too late.

"We would like to know that before. Two weeks is a long time." He added that his trip to China could be postponed. "Maybe we'll postpone," he said, without specifying for how long.

The US president's statements come as his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting with his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng in Paris to discuss the planned summit. Xi invited Trump to China during their meeting in South Korea in late October 2025, when they reached a truce in the US-China trade and technology war. Beijing has shown no intention of postponing the summit despite the war in Iran, which is a key oil supplier to China.