Trump’s leadership style evinced with the Middle East, at once volatile and commanding, could be both an obstacle and an opportunity for Beijing.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that China can continue to purchase oil from Iran after the U.S. bombed the OPEC member's nuclear facilities and hoped that China would also buy "plenty" of it from the United States.

President Trump said he wouldn’t stop China from purchasing oil from Iran, signaling he might ease the U.S.’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran. “They’re in the oil business. I mean, I could stop it if I wanted,