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Weapons to Iran: Trump threatens China with 50% tariff, then makes a crude offer
On oil, Trump said, "China can send their ships to us, to Venezuela... we have a lot of overcapacity, and we'll probably sell for even less money [than Iran]."
US President Donald Trump on Sunday re-deployed his legion of threats against Iran after peace talks in Islamabad failed — and went straight at China too. He was responding to reports that US intelligence has found China to be preparing a shipment of weapons to Iran amid a fragile two-week ceasefire that began last Wednesday.
"I doubt they would do that... but if we catch them doing that, they get a 50% tariff, which is a staggering amount." Trump, who's set to visit China next month, told Fox News.
Follow: Live updates on US-Iran war
He's made that threat to all such countries, but China in particular as he was pointedly responding to a question about a CNN report from Saturday. That report said China is preparing to deliver new air defence systems to Iran within the next few weeks. It cited three unnamed sources “familiar with recent US intelligence assessments”.
While responding to that, Trump also offered to sell crude oil to China, both from home and from Venezuela, a country the US quasi-runs after “seizing”, or effectively abducting, President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.
"China can send their ships to us… to Venezuela... we have a lot of overcapacity, and we'll probably sell [oil] for even less money [than Iran]," he said.
What about tariffs
Most of Trump's tariffs, which he used against countries ranging from India, Brazil and China to even allies like Canada, have already been struck down as bad in law by the US Supreme Court.
He has been using and further finding new ways to bypass the US Congress to impose these levies for geopolitical leverage.
On China, before the Supreme Court's ruling against his emergency law-based tariffs in February 2026, the levy had climbed to 125%. It later settled at 30% as both sides started talking. After the SC order, Trump scrambled to replace the earlier tariffs with temporary ones under a separate trade law. Hence the rate on China at present is 10-15%.
Meeting with Xi
Beijing has claimed it helped broker the ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. Plus, Trump is even set to visit China early next month for talks with President Xi Jinping.
US intelligence apprehends that Iran may be using the ceasefire as an opportunity to replenish certain weapons systems with the help of key foreign partners. Two sources told CNN there are indications that Beijing is working to route the shipments through third countries to mask their true origin.
The systems Beijing is preparing to transfer are shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs, the sources said. These have been a threat to low-flying US military aircraft throughout the course of the six-week war.
Trump was asked by CNN on Saturday about this, and whether he'd spoken to Xi about the issue. “If China does that, China will have big problems, OK?” he said as he left the White House for Florida.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington reportedly said, “China has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict; the information in question is untrue.”
“As a responsible major country, China consistently fulfills its international obligations. We urge the U.S. side to refrain from making baseless allegations, maliciously drawing connections, and engaging in sensationalism; we hope that relevant parties will do more to help de-escalate tensions,” it added.
Trump had indicated during a press conference last Monday that the F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran last week was hit by a “handheld shoulder missile, [a] heat-seeking missile”. Tehran had said it had used a “new” air defense system. It’s unclear whether that system was Chinese.
China plays neutral
Despite US sanctions, Chinese companies have continued to sell to Iran technology that enables it to build weapons. But the Chinese government directly transferring weapons would mark a new level of assistance, CNN noted in its report.
Beijing is reportedly trying to position itself as a continued friend to Iran, whose oil it heavily depends upon, while remaining outwardly neutral.
Sources told CNN that the Chinese could also make the argument that air defense systems are defensive rather than offensive in nature.
This would differentiate their support from that of Russia for Iran. Vladimir Putin's regime has been providing intelligence to Iran that has helped it proactively target US bases and assets in the Middle East/West Asia.
Iran has been aiding Russia in its war on Ukraine through the provision of Shahed drones, and also sells China the bulk of its sanctioned oil.
