“I think China should help too because China gets 90% of its oil from the Straits,” Donald Trump said. “We may delay,” he said in reference to his visit if China did not offer support in the Gulf.
Japan and Australia said on Monday (March 16, 2026) they were not planning to send navy vessels to West Asia to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, after U.S. President Donald Trump called on allies to create a coalition to reopen the vital waterway.
With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran creating turmoil across West Asia and shaking up global energy markets in its third week, Mr. Trump on Sunday (March 16, 2026) insisted that nations relying heavily on oil from the Gulf have a responsibility to protect the strait through which 20% of the world’s energy transits. Markets in Asia opened cautiously, with Brent crude rising more than 1% above $104.50 and regional share markets mostly weaker after Mr. Trump’s comments about enlisting other countries to help safeguard the strait.
“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. “It’s the place from which they get their energy.”
Mr. Trump said his administration has already contacted seven countries, but did not identify the countries. In a weekend social media post he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would participate. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday (March 16, 2026) her country, constrained by its war-renouncing constitution, has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort ships in West Asia.
“We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework,” Mr. Takaichi told parliament. Australia, another key Indo-Pacific ally to the U.S., said it had not been asked and will not send naval ships to assist in reopening the strait either.
By
