How China could complicate Trump's Middle East calculus
From Iran to Yemen, China could derail Trump’s efforts to rein Tehran, punish the Houthis and promote American manufacturing.
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In their first call since Donald Trump’s reelection, the US president and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, exchanged pleasantries and promises of cooperation to make not just the China-US dynamic but the whole world “more peaceful and safe.”
The call, just days before Trump's inauguration on Monday, masks with its diplomatic niceties a bumpy road ahead for Beijing and Washington as they try to manage the great power competition.
In the Middle East particularly, China could complicate Trump’s efforts to rein in Iran, punish the Houthis in Yemen and promote American manufacturing.
