Trump’s trip to China has been postponed. Maybe that’s for the best.

President Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China stands to this day as the most important foreign policy initiative by any president in the modern era.

We are still on hold for the “Trump Goes to China” moment.

President Trump’s trip to China — slated for March 31-April 2 — has been indefinitely postponed due to Trump starting a war with Iran, unleashing global uncertainty.

That economic fallout and geopolitical chaos from the war now threaten the U.S. relationship with China.

Trump initially tied a delay in his travel to China to a desire “to know” if the Chinese might agree to his request for help in getting ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian mines and drones are slowing safe passage for oil ships, including some headed for China. 

Chinese officials and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent quickly spoke up to say any delay in the visit “would have nothing to do with the Chinese making a commitment to the Strait of Hormuz.” And China never offered any help.

Even before the war, planning for the summit had been slow. Top economic analysts have said plans for Trump’s agenda in China, and finalizing a list of business leaders to accompany him, had been going “pretty poorly” before the delay.

It did not help that Trump had imposed steep tariffs on China earlier before settling into a deal that was later upended when the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s tariffs are illegal.

The most the U.S. expected to get out of the trip was for China to slow down production of a dangerous drug, Fentanyl, and increase its imports of U.S. farm products.

Chinese leaders are not the only people bewildered at Trump’s lack of diplomatic skills. The American public and the........

© The Hill